


Ultimate Despair and the Symbol of Peace

by RoarOfTheLion



Series: The Danganronpa and Boku no Hero Academia Crossover Collection [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Hope vs. Despair, Post-Despair (Dangan Ronpa)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2020-05-31 05:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 134,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19419121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoarOfTheLion/pseuds/RoarOfTheLion
Summary: One year since Izuku Midoriya was given One for All and was accepted into UA High.One year since Hajime Hinata became Izuru Kamukura and was transferred to UA High.They fought, they learned, they trained. A bond of friendship grew between the Symbol of Peace and the Ultimate Hope. Overcoming trial after trial, they worked to become professional heroes.When all was going well, tragedy struck. The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History. The Tragedy. The end of the world.Ultimate Despair had risen, and society had collapsed.Now, the Ultimate Hope is missing and the world is in ruin. It's up to Japan's newest Symbol of Peace to restore hope to the world!But should he falter...





	1. Chapter 1

“Die!!!” Bakugou yelled and a Monokuma fell over in response. The force of his anger completely dominating the robotic bear.

Well, that wasn’t _exactly_ what happened, but describing it that way would make for a hell of a story later. Uraraka thought this and brought a megaphone of her own to her lips. “Break!” She shouted and down went another Monokuma.

“Oh no!” The bear cried out in its tinny, robotic voice and fell over. All previous signs of hostility faded away as it feigned death.

“Watch out, Deku! DIE!!!” Bakugou warned and yelled at a Monokuma that had managed to sneak up on Midoriya. Right as it was about to leap with its extended, razor-sharp claws, Bakugou’s attack connected and it toppled harmlessly onto the sidewalk.

“Th-thanks, Kacchan!”

“Just watch yourself!” Bakugou huffed and turned around.

Uraraka breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. Mei Hatsume was a genius, that was what Uraraka believed, anyway. After all, what else could you call someone who was able to turn Bakugou’s shouting into a deadly weapon? And against the Monokuma no less.

The Monokuma robots had been a nasty thorn in the sides of the Future Foundation for a while now. Their bodies were constructed entirely out of steel which made them tough to destroy, and their claws were sharp enough to tear through flesh as if it were paper. All of those features combined with just the sheer amount of them there were that swarmed the streets made containing despair an almost impossible task.

Until now, that is.

“Break!” Uraraka fired a voice shot of her own and a Monokuma ceased to function. She grinned at the weapon in her hands.

Man, these hacking guns were great. Although they were skeptical at first. When they were briefed in the morning by Aizawa that they would be conducting a field test of a new prototype weapon Hatsume had invented, Midoriya and Uraraka were more than a little apprehensive. And when Aizawa explained that Hatsume guaranteed that these new weapons were very unlikely to explode, Bakugou understood his partners’ sentiments.

But all that was a thing of the past. Just a few minutes with Hatsume’s new “babies” were all that they needed to not only flip their opinions on the weapon around, but also every Monokuma they came across onto their backs. Seriously, they were just that powerful.

Why did Hatsume call these a prototype, though? Were there even any improvements that can be made to these things? Right now the megaphones converted sound waves into a hacking shot that disables the Monokuma, so you had to shout into it for it to work. Maybe she’d develop a version that didn’t require using your voice so that even someone like Kouda can use them.

Okay, that was mean. But you had to admit that the hacking gun didn’t seem like they’d be very useful in the shy boy’s hands. While on the other hand, they were a great fit for someone like Bakugou.

Uraraka studied the megaphone-shaped weapon in her hands. “On” and “Off” seemed intuitive enough. But what was this dial? Was it a volume knob? Uraraka twisted it and...

Eh? The word “break” that had been on the electronic display of the gun was replaced by the word “dance”.

Surely this... No, it couldn’t... Could it?

“Dance!” Uraraka aimed and shot a signal using gun’s new mode. The Monokuma unit that was hit immediately stopped its “menacing” charge and began to wiggle its arms and hips around as if it were dancing.

“Huh? Uraraka?”

“The fuck is... The fuck are you doing?!”

Uraraka’s surprising actions were predictably met with confusion from her patrol partners. All she could do was smile awkwardly when they looked at her.

“S-sorry, sorry! I was playing around with my gun and saw it had this other mode, so I decided to try it out.” She explained. “Turns out ‘dance’ does exactly what it says it does. Who knew?”

Hearing this explanation, Bakugou grunted and went back to breaking things, while Midoriya looked down at his own hacking gun.

“There are other modes?” Midoriya asked, half in incredulity and half in excitement.

“Um, seems like there’s just the two.” Uraraka said as she fiddled with the knob. “Maybe Hatsume’ll add more later on.”

“Maybe she’ll find a way for us to activate these guns without shouting.” Midoriya said hopefully. “My throat’s getting sore from all this yelling.”

“That just means you’re weak!” Bakugou gave his opinion as another Monokuma he hacked fell over. His voice not sounding strained in the slightest.

 _Or maybe someone’s just experiencing the positive side effects having lifelong anger issues_ , thought Uraraka. She opted not to voice this out loud, however, due to the aforementioned anger issues.

The hunt for Monokuma continued until the very last of them fell.

“That’s the last of them.” Midoriya reported as the final Monokuma dramatically fell onto the ground. “We should be good to head back now. I’ll make a call for them to send a team over to collect the scraps of the Monokuma and then we can make a report to-”

 _Zap!_ A streak of yellow light flew past Midoriya’s head, cutting of a few strands of green hair and leaving a distinct burning smell.

They watched the tufts of hair fall to the ground, stunned, before turning in the direction of where the shot came from. A short distance away, an untidy looking man scowled and began walking towards the three hero students. Behind him followed two others, both of them were wearing Monokuma helmets.

The man was an absolute mess. His hair was messy and uncombed, his chin was covered by a dirty patch of stubble, and the jacket he was wearing looked lightly minced.

The two people at his side were a little bit more pleasant to look at. Their faces were obstructed by the helmets they wore, and their uniforms were a lot more put together. They were carrying a bat and a crowbar in their hands respectively.

“Who the fuck are you?” Bakugou asked while aiming his hacking gun at the disheveled man as if they didn’t already know who he was.

The Monokuma helmets were a dead giveaway. This was a member of Ultimate Despair.

“Oh, you’re pointing that thing at me? Does it even work on humans? Or were you perhaps hoping that I have a pacemaker you could stop?” The man continued walking, not at all threatened by Bakugou’s completely non-threatening gesture. “So the Future Foundation has a new toy. And they’ve got children like you to test it out.”

Bakugou narrowed his eyes and put the gun back in his holster. He raised his arms and started miniature Explosions in his palms. “If you think that’s the only weapon we got, then you’re sorely mistaken, Ultimate Despair.”

A bemused look came over the man’s face and was quickly washed away by one of pure malice. He raised a finger and sparks crackled at the tip. He smirked at the teenagers.

“Ultimate Despair... What are you doing here?” Midoriya asked while also getting into a fighting stance, green sparks coursing through his muscles.

“What am I doing here? I suppose you could call me a ‘drifter’ of sorts. I wander around to and from Despair bases to check up on them, see how they’re doing, whether they need supplies, that sort of thing.” The Drifter explained. “Information travels a lot slower nowadays. But I’m sure you already knew that.”

“And whose fault do you think that is?” Uraraka retorted. “You guys are the ones who ended the world to begin with!”

“Hm? Ah...” Drifter looked confused and scratched his chin in thought. “No, but... This is much more preferable to the alternative, no? After all, it’s the world itself that made us want to end it. So, you can say that the world ended itself, yeah?”

“What do you mean ‘the world made you want to end it’?” Uraraka asked.

“Exactly what I said, that’s what I mean. The world was just so insufferable that there was no choice but for us to end it. Scrap it all, take it away, start from new. Destroy everything that we don’t like, just because it was boring. That sort of thing.” Drifter ran his fingers through his greasy hair, slicking it back before it sprang forward once more. Observing the angry and clearly ignorant looks in the teenager’s faces, he inhaled and sighed, slowly and deliberately. Staring the hero students in the eye, he said. “Look. Have any of you ever been… _betrayed_ before?”

“What, like your girlfriend cheating on you?”

“Worse! No… much worse than that. No, how about your girlfriend cheating on you with your _boss_ and working together to _frame_ you for _embezzlement_ so that you go to _jail,_ get your name dragged through the _mud_ by every media outlet, while they get away _scot free!_ And to top it _all_ off, all your family and friends turn their back on you, not even _bothering_ to listen to your side of the story, leaving you _penniless_ and miserable on the streets.

Do you have any idea how miserable I was? Do you have any idea how _hopeless_ I felt? Do you?!”

Drifter spat out his words like venom while swirls appeared in his eyes. Uraraka looked at Midoriya, then at Bakugou. They didn’t know what to say.

“Even so, turning to despair-“

“Was my _only_ choice! Despair gave me life! Despair gave me purpose! Despair keeps me from feeling hungry ever again!” Drifter interrupted. “If I didn’t become Ultimate Despair, I would’ve starved to death on the streets! Or are you saying that I should’ve keeled over and died? Died just so the world can keep on spinning as it always does! While the miserable and unfortunate are left and forgotten.”

“Well, no but-“

“But nothing!” Drifter pointed a finger gun at the heroes with his right hand while his left hand wrapped around his right as if to steady himself. Yellow sparks danced around his outstretched finger as he rambled.

Uraraka gulped. So this was Ultimate Despair. She never thought that she’d ever encounter one while on her patrols. Bakugou, Deku, and her, they were heroes, yes, but only out of necessity. After the Tragedy, the world’s hero population shrunk significantly, enough that they were letting hero students such as themselves participate in real hero missions despite their obvious inexperience. But they weren’t being pushed directly into the danger. Munakata, together along with coordination with Aizawa, made sure that the patrol routes given to the students heroes were ones where Ultimate Despair had rarely been sighted. Meeting one here was a serious stroke of bad luck.

Aizawa and Munakata had given them specific guidelines on what to do if they met with Ultimate Despair: Run if you have an opportunity to do so. Fight only if necessary.

This was because of the threat that Ultimate Despair had posed. Unlike villains in the days of old, Ultimate Despair was a mystery. They were stronger, more determined, and above all else, they didn’t think in the way normal humans usually do. This made them unpredictable, and therefore, dangerous.

Uraraka glanced at her friends.

“He seems to be able to fire out some sort of laser from his finger if how he’s standing and how his finger is lighting up is any indication. We don’t know how much damage the beam does but it did cut through my hair and continue onwards so it may pierce the skin just as easily. Adding onto that we couldn’t see where the beam stopped if it even did stop so we don’t know what the maximum range of it is. Compared to his quirk, mine, Bakugou’s, and Uraraka’s are all quirks that require close range to be effective though we all have ways to be effective at long ranges. I can fire air blasts with my gloves, Bakugou developed his AP shot, and Uraraka can launch projectiles but it’s not enough. If we close the distance his quirk may be less impactful...”

Forgetting herself, Uraraka smiled. Even in the middle of a life-threatening situation she can rely on Midoriya to be his usual analytical self and knowing that calmed her down somewhat. Looking beside her, she locked eyes with Bakugou.

“We’re fighting.” As if understanding Uraraka’s unspoken question with just her expression alone, Bakugou said this in a low voice. Then, moments later, as if sensing her next question, he continued. “If we run, we might get sniped in the back. Closing the distance makes his quirk easier to deal with. If it travels _that_ fast, keeping our distance won’t help. I’m sure Deku’s thinking the same thing.”

Uraraka arched an eyebrow. She was impressed. She didn’t expect Bakugou to have put so much thought into this. She had expected something along the lines of attacking because he didn’t want to run from a Despair or something.

“Plus, there’s no way I’m running from some shitty Despair.” Bakugou flashed an intimidating smile.

 _Spoke too soon_ , thought Uraraka.

“Deku?” Uraraka looked back to Midoriya.

“I agree with Kacchan.” Midoriya replied. “We should fight.”

“So we’re in agreement, then.”

“Let’s do this.” Uraraka steeled her resolve and prepared for her first battle with a member of Ultimate Despair.

* * *

Uraraka held Drifter to the ground as Midoriya and Bakugou apprehended his henchmen.

The battle was one of the toughest they ever fought. As Midoriya and Bakugou had predicted, Drifter had a much more difficult time using his quirk at close ranges than at far away, shifting the fight dramatically in their favour.

But that didn’t mean they didn’t still have to watch out for it. As it turned out, the bolts that he fired out can pinpoint heat at upwards of 1000 degrees at a single point. Uraraka was nicked on the arm by one of the bolts and found that the wound had been instantly cauterized, all that was left was a searing pain and the smell of burnt flesh.

As dangerous as Drifter was, his two Monokuma helmet clad henchmen were rather useless. Either they didn’t have strong enough quirks or didn’t have the right opportunity to use them. In any case, they went down like a sack of potatoes to Uraraka’s knowledge of Gunhead Martial Arts, not even having a chance to swing their weapons.

Uraraka looked at the member of Ultimate Despair on the ground. She had to admit, even without his quirk, the man was quite strong. Bakugou and Midoriya both had excellent physical ability, but Drifter’s strength at certain points in that fight had seemed abnormally strong. He had even repelled an attack by Midoriya and resisted an Explosion by Bakugou without any difficulty. It was strange, to say the least. It made her almost feel that the Laser wasn’t his only quirk.

 _He had to have had some way to modify his strength or something._ She thought.

Uraraka fit a gray collar onto the Ultimate Despair’s neck, it made a beep and a small light changed from red to green, indicating that the collar is now in its active state.

These collars were Future Foundation technology, given to every hero or agent that went out on field missions in addition to a pair of handcuffs. Simply put, they stopped the usage of quirks of whomever had the collar around their neck, similar to being under the effects of their homeroom teacher, Aizawa.

“You may have beaten me, but don’t think that Despair will fall so easily.” Drifter offered this piece of advice. “You’ll have to know, our leader...”

Uraraka perked up. The leader of Ultimate Despair remained a mystery to the Future Foundation. Of all the Ultimate Despair they had captured so far, none had given them any concrete information on who exactly led the group. They all claimed never to have met the person. Was this person finally able to shed some light on their identity?

“Your leader... Are you saying that you’ve met them personally?” Uraraka asked.

“Ah? No... I haven’t. But I do know that... Our leader... She-”

“Seriously?” She asked, in complete dismay. “You haven’t even met them? You’re just worthless, then.”

“W-worthless?!” Drifter spat. “I’ll have you know that it’s a privilege of the highest order to be able to meet with our leader! Something that’s reserved only for the members who’ve been with Despair the longest. I would have gotten there too one day, if- if it hadn’t been for you meddling…” Drifter trailed off and turned his attention towards Bakugou, who was a little distance away, studying the helmeted individuals.

Declaring that he wanted to “unmask these freaks”, Bakugou began tugging on the Monokuma helmet one of them was wearing with the intent of pulling it off.

Drifter watched the scene with great interest. He licked his lips as he craned his neck to get a better view. Uraraka nudged the man with her foot, as if warning him not to try anything suspicious.

_But why is he so interested in what Bakugou’s..._

Something connected in Uraraka’s mind. She looked up so fast that Midoriya looked over. But Bakugou didn’t notice. He was still pulling on the man’s helmet.

“Bakugou!” Uraraka shouted. “Don’t touch the helmet! I think Despair did something to them-”

Pop.

The man, free of the helmet, fell backwards and onto Bakugou’s leg. Grimacing, he shook his leg and the man rolled backwards onto the ground. From the way he was handcuffed, it looked like an awkward position for one’s body to contort, but the man didn’t seem to have any problems with it.

Looking down at him, Bakugou stepped back in shock.

The man’s face was contorted in a mask of pure terror.

Only one thing broke the moment of silence that occurred afterwards.

The captive, eyes swirling with joy and madness, laughed and laughed while ominous dread creeped into the students.

“Hahahahaha! The heroes! The _heroes_ just killed a civilian! Ahahahaha!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we’re back! Now with more despair than ever.  
> It's been a while, hasn't it? Hope you haven't gotten too bored of waiting.  
> The second part of the story will not follow the MHA storyline and will be going "off the rails" so to speak.  
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Next chapter: The Future Foundation


	2. Chapter 2

Bakugou was silent the entire trip back.

Midoriya and Uraraka had tried to strike up a conversation but he wouldn’t even look them in the eye. Eventually, they decided to just sit in silence as the car made its bumpy way back to foundation headquarters.

After the battle, Midoriya had been in charge of calling in transport. Extra foundation personnel came to pick up the members of Ultimate Despair they had fought against and escort them to holding cells back at the base.

Although Drifter had been right, and that information did indeed travel slower after the Tragedy, that didn’t mean it slowed to a halt. The internet, after most physical servers were destroyed, mostly consisted of Future Foundation news bulletins and their attempts to replicate popular websites before the Tragedy. Internet traffic was sparse.

Cell phones only worked within a set distance of Future Foundation headquarters after most phone lines and towers were destroyed. And television was a constant struggle between the Future Foundation and Ultimate Despair on which side could hijack the air waves from the other the most and play their own programming.

After they arrived, they immediately went to Aizawa’s office to report what had happened during their patrol while foundation personnel escorted Drifter and the helmeted man to the cells. The dead man was put into a body bag and taken to the morgue for autopsy.

Midoriya was holding the helmet in his lap as he gave the report. Together, along with Uraraka, they recounted how they were testing the hacking gun when Drifter showed up. He talked about how powerful the weapon was and how they were able to clear out swarms of Monokuma in the blink of an eye. He explained why they chose to fight instead of running away and described what had happened during the fight.

Then, he told Aizawa what had happened after the fight.

Throughout all of this, Bakugou stayed silent. When Aizawa heard about what happened, he turned to look at Bakugou but didn’t say a word. Bakugou didn’t meet his gaze, content with staring at nothing in particular.

When Midoriya and Uraraka were done, Aizawa closed his eyes. A few quiet moments passed while the students sat in silence. Midoriya and Uraraka glanced at one another, worried about what he might say. Aizawa opened his eyes and turned to the pair.

“Midoriya, Uraraka.” He began said in a soft but firm voice. “Don’t tell anyone else about this last part. I’ll deal with it later.”

They nodded silently.

“One of you go take that helmet to Power Loader for him to take a look at. I imagine it’ll be important.” Aizawa continued. “If you two don’t have anything else to report, then you’re both dismissed. Good job on taking down that Ultimate Despair.”

They stood up. The students looked at Bakugou briefly before exiting. Aizawa waited until the door was closed before turning to Bakugou.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” Said Bakugou.

“Can you tell me what happened? In your own words. I’m not forcing you to, but it’d give me a better understanding of the situation.”

Bakugou hesitated for a moment. He looked up at Aizawa’s eyes, trying to discern his teacher’s feelings. Reluctantly, Bakugou began to talk.

“… Uraraka shouted at me, but I finally twisted that damn thing off. The next thing I knew he fell over, dead. Then, Ultimate Despair started laughing.”

“…” Aizawa took in Bakugou’s words without a hint of emotion showing. Though he seemed stoic, numerous thoughts bubbled inside of him. He looked up and started to speak. “Look-”

“I know what you’re gonna say.” Bakugou interrupted.

“And I’ll say it anyway. It wasn’t your fault.”

Bakugou stayed silent, so Aizawa continued. “You mustn’t blame yourself for this. No one knew anything about those helmets, but now, we may have some idea.”

Bakugou shook his head. “I didn’t listen to Uraraka. I could’ve waited.”

“If you hadn’t done it, one of us here would have. There was no reason to think that those helmets were anything dangerous besides the despair’s reactions.” Aizawa reasoned. “The fact that you were the one who did it… it was just bad luck. It’s not something to blame yourself over.”

“…”

Aizawa sighed. “In any case, I’m going to take you off field duty for now.”

Bakugou looked up at this, his eyes angry, then resigned. Aizawa continued.

“This isn’t a punishment, let me make that clear. You’ve just gone through a traumatic experience so your mental state may be affected.” He explained. “I’m also assigning you extra hours with Gekkogahara. She’ll determine when you can return to active field duty.”

“Hrn-” Bakugou made a mildly annoyed noise when Aizawa said this.

Aizawa arched an eyebrow. “Something wrong with Gekkogahara?”

“She’s... no, nothing.”

“Good. You’re dismissed.”

Aizawa watched Bakugou stand up and leave his office.

Aizawa’s job at the Future Foundation was to oversee the student heroes. He was in charge of briefing and debriefing them on the goings on of the apocalyptic world and choosing which missions to send them out on.

He was also in charge of caring for them.

Munakata was in charge of the actual heroes, and his ‘agents’ as he liked to call them. These agents basically referred to anybody who wanted to use their quirk to fight against despair but was never a licensed hero before the Tragedy struck.

Munakata’s was a full-time job, but Aizawa only worked part-time. Which made sense as the students were only part-time heroes as well. Aizawa worked as class 1-A’s homeroom teacher the rest of the time. As Tengan had said, even in tragedy, they mustn’t neglect their education.

It was All-Might who had recommended him for this job. He thought that Aizawa would was a good fit to personally manage which missions the children were or weren’t able to go on, and Aizawa reluctantly accepted the position as well as all the responsibility that came with it. Speaking of All-Might, he became one of the three leaders of the Future Foundation. Kazuo Tengan and Kyosuke Munakata had founded the group, but they quickly roped All-Might into taking a leadership role as well. He had been reluctant at first, saying that he wasn’t fit to the task, but they eventually convinced him.

The world needs someone to look up to, they had said. And even in his retirement All-Might was respected and loved by the people. In the beginning throes of the Tragedy, all top heroes had their name slandered and ridiculed, all except All-Might, who had retired and was since ignored by Ultimate Despair.

So now Aizawa reported to All-Might, who reported to Tengan. Most of the old UA teachers had been given various positions in the foundation and were under All-Might’s supervision. Just like how most Hope’s Peak Academy alumni and teachers were under Munakata’s supervision. The few foundation personnel who didn’t have affiliation with either school reported directly to Tengan himself. This was the structure of the Future Foundation.

Aizawa finished his email to Gekkogahara and sent it. He thought of the girl. The Ultimate Therapist. Graduated from Hope’s Peak Academy just a couple of years before the Tragedy. Now she works as a therapist for the Future Foundation.

She was a bit odd, Aizawa thought, but a good therapist. She had the difficult task of making sure everyone at the foundation was mentally healthy and not affected by despair. Everyone had mandatory sessions with her, so she was often very busy.

Of course, Aizawa understood Bakugou’s apprehension with Gekkogahara. She was so shy she doesn’t speak directly with anyone. Instead, she used a mascot character as a middleman to speak with others. Magical Miracle Girl Usami, or whatever she called it. It was a poofy white rabbit dressed in one of those magical girl costumes and carried a magic rod. Well, Aizawa can hardly blame Bakugou for finding it a little silly. He just had to remember that it wasn’t because Gekkogahara was treating him like a kid.

Now, onto the main problem. Aizawa had to break the news of what happened to the class. He instructed Midoriya and Uraraka not to talk about it so that he’d be able to inform everyone of what happened himself. He’d choose a time when Bakugou wasn’t in class, so he wouldn’t be subject to their pitying gazes, something that Bakugou would undoubtedly not appreciate. Aizawa needed to do this so that they were aware of Bakugou’s situation.

For what seemed like the hundredth time, Aizawa sighed heavily.

* * *

Midoriya parted ways with Uraraka and he carried the Monokuma helmet to the support department. He knocked on the door and a cheery female voice told him to enter. He did and saw Mei Hatsume happily working on some new equipment.

“Hey Hatsume, is Power Loader out?”

“Oh, hey Midoriya.” Hatsume turned around and greeted. “Yeah, he said he had some business with Gekkogahara.” Her eyes shifted to the helmet Midoriya was carrying under his arms. “Whatcha got there?”

“It’s one of those helmets that the Ultimate Despair wear. We recovered it in a battle against one of them. We were hoping to have the support department take a look at it.” Midoriya explained. “Apparently it uh, it kills its wearer if you take it off.”

Hatsume tilted her head at this, her smile shrinking but never leaving her face. “I see. You want me to take a look at this, right? Find out if it has any other effects. Well, just leave it on the table and I’ll get to it once I’m finished up here.” She gestured to an empty spot on the table.

“Um, no. I think Aizawa wants Power Loader to take a look at it, and not any of the students.” Midoriya insisted. “If this thing is used by despair, then it may be very dangerous.”

“Oh, fine.” Hatsume flippantly agreed. “Well, you can just leave that there then.”

Midoriya did as he was told then turned to Hatsume again. “Oh yeah, we tested the megaphone gun you invented. It-”

Hatsume heard this and immediately appeared in front of Midoriya. “Ah, so you guys were the ones who had the opportunity to try them out. So, how was it? How were my babies in combat?!”

“Wah!” Midoriya jumped slightly in shock, then got just as excited as Hatsume as he started recounting his earlier experience. “They were amazing! We were able to clear the Monokuma so easily. Our throats were a little sore after all that shouting, but it was still really cool!”

Hearing this, Hatsume looked triumphant. She puffed up her chest in victory as Midoriya looked away in embarrassment.

“Oh right, I wanted to ask you something.” Midoriya said and caught Hatsume’s attention. “Besides ‘break’, there was a ‘dance’ option on the megaphones. What was that for?”

“Hm? Ah, that. You’ll have to ask _that girl_ about it. I only developed the shooting mechanism that sends out the programming codes. I don’t have any control over what codes are sent out.”

“That girl? Ah, you’re talking about _her_ , right? The hacker? Well, in either case, this weapon you made is really useful.”

Midoriya said goodbye to Hatsume and left her to work on her “babies”. After leaving the workshop, instead of going to the cafeteria, where everyone else would be, Midoriya turned and headed in a different direction. Eventually he arrived outside of the room he wanted. He knocked on the door politely and waited until a voice from inside told him to come in.

“Ah, Midoriya. What a pleasant surprise.” He was greeted by a man as he stepped in.

“Oh, hi Midoriya. Let me just finish up here and I’ll be right with you.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” Midoriya assured as he entered the office. “Take as much time as you need, La Brava.”

Midoriya said this to the girl sitting behind the computer that greeted him as he came in. Over in the waiting area, the man previously known as the Gentle Criminal was sitting on a couch, pouring tea elegantly into two sets of teacups. Midoriya noted that Gentle had set up two cups already, meaning that La Brava had been planning to take a break soon anyway. Out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya saw him take out a third teacup.

“Would you like to join us, Midoriya? I’m afraid we only have the cheaper brands here due to the… circumstances.”

“I’d love to.” Midoriya agreed and took a seat as La Brava left her computer and moved to sit next to Gentle.

Gentle and La Brava, two villains that Midoriya had defeated the day of the Culture Festival. They had attempted to sneak into the festival in order to cause some sort of scene and gain notoriety on the internet, though Midoriya was a little fuzzy on the details there. They were taken away by the police and the Culture Festival was able to continue without incident.

That was before the Tragedy.

Apparently, they had both began to turn their lives around by the time the Tragedy occurred. One thing led to another and Munakata recruited the two of them to work for the Future Foundation.

La Brava lent them her talents as a Hacker. Right now, she led the investigation into the AI that the Monokuma are equipped with, and apparently, she was on the team that helped to create the megaphone hacking gun.

Similarly, the man previously known as the Gentle Criminal would finally be able to realize his dreams of becoming a hero. Albeit in a decidedly different manner than what he was expecting. He worked as one of Munakata’s agents and patrolled the streets making sure that they were protected from despair.

“So what brings you here, Midoriya?” La Brava asked as she took her cup.

“Oh, not much really. I just wanted to talk about the hacking gun. Hatsume said that you helped out in making it. It’s super effective in dealing with the Monokuma!”

La Brava lit up. “Oh, you found it useful? That’s great!”

“As expected of you, La Brava.” Gentle complimented. “I look forward to using the weapon during my field missions as well.”

“I also wanted to ask about something. Why did you make an option that forced the Monokuma to dance? Wouldn’t just breaking them be enough?”

“Hm? Oh, that.” La Brava looked as if she remembered something. “I didn’t... well, I sort of did, but well...” She pursed her lips as she thought of the best way to explain.

“Hey, what did they do exactly? When the dance command was issued.”

“Huh? Oh, it was sorta like...” Midoriya closed his eyes to recall the scene then started wiggling his arms and body in the approximate motion the Monokumas took. “S-sorta like that, I guess...” Midoriya felt his cheeks heat up as he mimicked the killer robotic bear’s silly dancing.

“Hmm...”

“Does it mean something, La Brava?” Gentle asked.

“Probably... Probably not.” La Brava seemed undecided. “See, I didn’t program the Monokuma to do that. That was something that they could do all on their own.”

“I... don’t get it.” Midoriya admitted.

“Well, let me put it this way. I didn’t _teach_ the Monokumas to dance, I merely ordered them to.” Both Gentle and Midoriya looked as confused as ever so La Brava decided to take a step back further to explain. “When I was looking at the Monokumas’ programming, I found that they have the ability to self-terminate. So I wrote a command that forced them to do that. But I also found that they knew all sorts of different actions. One of them was dancing, apparently, so I also wrote a command that forced them to do that as well.”

“I think I get it?” Midoriya said after a moment of thought. “So it’s like... someone else was the one who taught them or programmed them to be able to dance. But you were the one who told them to. Is that right?”

“That’s it exactly.” La Brava nodded.

“But why would we want them to dance?” Gentle asked.

“Not sure.” Admitted La Brava. “But ‘break’ and ‘dance’ aren’t the only commands the Monokuma can take, it seems. I haven’t quite cracked them all yet, but there appears to be a whole bunch of different actions the Monokuma have been programmed to do. And I intend on finding out how to command the Monokuma to do all of them. For now, though, just having break should be enough to effectively deal with them.”

Gentle nodded sagely as he sipped his tea. “I see...”

“Of course, the even bigger question should be why would Ultimate Despair want the Monokuma to dance. I had my suspicions when analyzing the code, but from Midoriya’s dance earlier, it seemed that it really does just force the Monokuma to do a simple dance.”

“That’s right... Ultimate Despair would be the ones to have allowed them to dance in the first place.” Midoriya mused. “But why would they want them to break?”

“Maybe so that they can be scrapped for parts easier? To be honest, I don’t know how Ultimate Despair would even issue these commands in the first place. The Monokumas can’t be remote controlled, and they certainly aren’t receiving wireless signals. They’re mostly just left to act according to their own simple AI.”

“Well, who really knows how Ultimate Despair thinks. Speaking of which, Gentle, have you ever encountered any Ultimate Despair while out?”

“Hm? Well, I have encountered around four of them so far during our patrols.” Gentle stroked his beard as he recalled. “Although we weren’t ever able to capture one as your team have. Quite impressive, I must say.”

“Ah, thanks.” Midoriya blushed as he was praised.

“Despair has... Each despair that I have met with and fought against has a certain _mania_ to them. At least that’s what I felt when facing them. I think they are capable of rational thought, but... Some of their actions don’t seem to have any reason behind it.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean.” Midoriya nodded, thinking back to his fight with Drifter.

“One thing that I noticed, however, was their abnormal strength.” Gentle took a sip of tea. “Take it from someone who has been empowered by La Brava’s Love quirk firsthand. Their strength didn’t match their bodies.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Gentle took another sip and set his cup onto a saucer. “Normally, when people work out it would show on their bodies. Their limbs become more developed, their bodies become muscular. However, that it not the case with La Brava’s quirk, or yours, it seems. Instead, the body remains the same as it was but it becomes able to output much more power than it was previously able to.”

Midoriya blinked as he pondered Gentle’s words. He was right. Generally, quirks that increase one’s power don’t increase the body’s mass to accompany it. There have been some exceptions, such as the villain Midoriya fought at the summer training camp, Muscular, who created real Muscle fibers that also boosted his strength. He said that he could increase his strength endlessly, but was that really true? It was possible, Midoriya assumed, but the mountain that they were fighting on would surely crumble underneath the sheer amount of mass that Muscular would eventually possess.

Before All-Might could properly transfer One for All to Midoriya, they first had to train Midoriya’s body so that it wouldn’t break under One for All’s power, or else his limbs would pop off, or so All-Might had speculated. Even then it hadn’t been enough, and it took Midoriya some time to properly be able to control even a fraction of its power.

Was the same true for Gentle as well? La Brava had mentioned that the amount of strength gifted was proportional to the amount of Love she held for the target. La Brava was madly in love with Gentle, so the strength boost Gentle had received when they fought was substantial. Did Gentle have trouble adjusting to that power in the beginning too or was he able to handle it just fine? Given how he had reacted when he recognized Midoriya as “the boy who kept breaking his limbs at the Sports Festival” it might not have been the case.

Midoriya shook himself out of his thoughts. “So, what do you think it is?” Midoriya refocused on the conversation about Ultimate Despairs. “If the Ultimate Despairs are stronger than a regular person without the body mass to show for it?”

“I... can’t say for sure.” Gentle admitted. “Though this mystery is intriguing to me. I feel that we may be able to understand Ultimate Despair better if we understand how this ‘despair’ worked.”

“I think you’re right.”

The three of them talked a bit more about Ultimate Despair before finishing their tea. Midoriya bid the former villains farewell and left for to the cafeteria.

* * *

Inside his office, Munakata examined his computer screen. He was reading through the reports written by the heroes and agents he had in his command when a noise alerted him of a new email. He switched tabs and saw that All-Might was the sender, following up on his earlier inquiry regarding the students at UA.

Munakata opened the email and was met with a short apology from All-Might stating how he was sorry for forgetting about his request until now. Munakata took a sip of coffee then opened the attached file and began scrolling through the list of students and their pictures.

Starting from the third years, then the second years, then the firsts...

Munakata stopped at a student.

He stared at the name and the single word beside it. He looked at the associated picture with disbelief.

Munakata read and reread the name that was listed under the first-year students at UA. It was a name he was quite familiar with. It was a name that held great significance to someone that was a graduate of Hope’s Peak Academy.

But even more important than that, it was the name of an experiment conducted by Hope’s Peak Academy’s Steering Committee. A horrible violation of ethics and human rights, done right under the noses of the other students and faculty of his beloved alma mater.

Right beside the picture of a teen with red eyes and long, black hair was the name: Izuru Kamukura (missing).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know that both Monokuma and Monokumas are acceptable pluralization of the singular Monokuma? It’s certainly not because I was lazy and couldn’t be bothered to make it consistent. No sirree, no way.
> 
> Next chapter: Class 1-A watches a documentary


	3. Chapter 3

The very next morning, inside of a large classroom, class 1-A was gathered. The students had been called to the classroom on very short notice and no one knew what the purpose of the meeting was. All that they knew was that Munakata had been the one to call the meeting and that it was going to be important. Currently, they were noisily chatting with one another about possibilities for why they had been summoned.

“Maybe it’s about the state of the cafeteria?”

“I don’t know, it sounded like it was pretty urgent.”

“Maybe it’s about Ultimate Despair. Midoriya and the others were caught up the other day.”

“Do you think they’re going to let us fight Ultimate Despair if they show up?”

“I doubt it. There’s no way that’d happen. Not after what Bakugou... did...”

Bakugou looked back just as they quickly looked away. He turned back to the front and growled in a low voice. Beside him, Midoriya tried to be reassuring but Bakugou simply glared at him.

Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened and five people walked in. Munakata, Aizawa, All-Might, Yukizome, and Principal Nedzu.

Munakata walked out in front while the others sat down at the side of the restructured classroom.

“Who here has heard of the name, Izuru Kamukura?” He asked.

Looking confused and while glancing at one another, trying to ascertain just what the hell was going on, each and every one of class 1-A’s hands slowly rose.

Izuru Kamukura used to be their classmate, of _course_ they’ve heard of him.

“Who here has heard of Hope’s Peak Academy _before_ the Tragedy occurred? I’m talking about before the Reserve Course Suicide.”

Although it was slower and more hesitant this time. All of the class’ hands were raised. Hope’s Peak was a famous school, after all. Not knowing of it would be ridiculous.

Munakata signaled for them to lower their hands and they did. “Now, who here has heard of the Kamukura Project?”

Midoriya started to raise his hand before a crushing and excruciating pain appeared on his right foot. “Ack-!” He cried out and everyone’s attention was on him.

“I uh, I bit my tongue...” Midoriya lied while covering his mouth with his hands, looking most embarrassed. Munakata turned his attention away from the boy and everyone lost interest in him, everyone except the person sitting next to him.

Midoriya turned and was met with a hot, judgmental gaze from Bakugou that almost seemed to shout out: “You fucking idiot! That’s _supposed_ to be a secret.”

Midoriya responded with a look of his own. One that conveyed both the message of: “Sorry!” and “Did you have to stomp so _hard_?” at the same time.

While this was going on, Munakata watched the rest of the classroom. They were all talking amongst themselves about what he had just asked.

“What’s a ‘Kamukura Project’?”

“Was this something Kamukura was working on?”

“It doesn’t sound like it.”

“It sounds like some sort of secret agent thing.”

Munakata observed the classroom before speaking again. “I wouldn’t have expected any of you to have heard of it. The Kamukura Project was a secret project devised by Hope’s Peak Academy. It was the name of the project that created Izuru Kamukura.”

These words set the classroom aflame.

“Create? What did he mean by create?!”

“Are we talking about his birth?”

“... That would be rather silly.”

“But how _else_ do you create a person?”

“Everyone, settle down.” Aizawa’s quiet words instantly calmed the panicked students.

Munakata thanked the teacher then turned back to the class. “Now, I am to understand that Izuru Kamukura was a classmate of yours, correct?”

The students all nodded.

Munakata closed his eyes and sighed. “Hm, so that’s how it was… To think that he was here the whole time. No… I suppose it makes sense to hide him away from the same place where they created him. But a school so prominent…” Munakata muttered under his breath. “He wasn’t in the Sports Festival… Was that really all they needed to do to hide him?”

Munakata shook his head and opened his eyes. Renewed with vigour, he announced to the class. “What I am about to reveal to you must never leave this classroom. The reason that I have gathered you all here today was to discuss this former classmate of yours, Izuru Kamukura.

You may already know that I used to work at Hope’s Peak Academy before the Tragedy began. What you do not know is that the reason I was working at Hope’s Peak was to infiltrate and investigate what Hope’s Peak was attempting. This investigation was top-secret. However, in light of recent events, I believe that you all deserve to know the truth.”

“The truth?” Midoriya asked.

“Izuru Kamukura was a creation of the Hope’s Peak Academy’s Kamukura Project. In short, he is an artificially enhanced human.”

“What?!”

“You’re kidding!”

“This has to be a joke, right?”

“It’s not a joke.” Munakata denied. “Publicly, Hope’s Peak was led by its headmaster, Jin Kirigiri. Privately, many of its internal affairs were controlled by a secret group known as the Steering Committee. They performed various experiments involving the talents that the school has studied. The Kamukura Project was their design to create a human being with all the talents that Hope’s Peak has ever researched.”

“All the talent?” Kaminari repeated. “That _sounds_ like Kamukura, but-”

“There’s no way that Kamukura was the result of some secret project…” Kirishima insisted.

“That’s right! It… actually would make a lot of sense, now that I think about it.” Ashido admitted.

“I’m afraid that what Munakata has said is all true.” Principal Nedzu suddenly spoke up and hopped out of his seat, walking to where Munakata was and speaking to the class.

“I believe that everyone has heard of my origins, yes?” Principal Nedzu asked. “That I was experimented on by a group of vicious human scientists but later escaped to become the cuddly and cute, adorable mascot principal you all know and love.”

The class expressed their assent to this, with no small amounts of disagreement to the “cuddly and cute” part. That much of Nedzu’s past had been public knowledge. Slowly, the students pieced together the significance of bringing that up now.

“Wait, you don’t mean-?”

“That’s right.” Nedzu nodded. “The humans that put me through those horrific experiments were none other than the shadow controllers of Hope’s Peak Academy themselves: The Steering Committee.”

“What the-!”

“No way...”

Although it had been leading up to this, hearing Nedzu admit to it so casually came as a bit of a shock to everyone.

Beside them, Aizawa and All-Might glanced at one another.

“Did- did you know about this?” All-Might asked hesitantly.

“Of course I didn’t. Don’t be absurd.” Aizawa denied.

“Yes, it was quite a horrid time. Mine is a tale of intrigue, drama, and suspense, a tale that-”

“Principal.” Munakata interrupted. “Perhaps the shortened version of this story would serve us better. I still have much to discuss about Kamukura.”

“Mm? Ah, but of course.” Nedzu nodded. “Well then, here goes.

I was born a white mouse, yes, but one without any quirks. Even though officially it is stated that my quirk is called High Specs, that is merely a fabrication devised by my saviour and me. In truth, I am, or _was_ , an ordinary white mouse without any discerning characteristics. My intelligence and appearance are all the results of experimentation from the Steering Committee.

I won’t subject you to all the gruesome details of the experiments themselves, you’ll understand soon enough, anyway. Though, needless to say, it wasn’t pretty.

The reason I was able to escape wasn’t because of my superior intellect, nor the committee underestimating who they were dealing with, nor the result of an insane amount of luck and cunning.

Well, it wasn’t _just_ because of those things.

No, the reason that I was able to escape from the Steering Committee’s clutches was because of one man: Jin Kirigiri, the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy.

You see, Kirigiri and the Steering Committee didn’t get along. He often opposed their methods and goals and acted to get in the way of their more _unethical_ practices. To make a long story short, he rescued me and helped me to where I am today. Or, where I was, I suppose. The Principal of the number one hero school in Japan.”

Having said all that, Nedzu took a breath. The class was silent as they waited for him to continue.

“Well, that was several years ago, now, but what does it have to do with Izuru Kamukura one might ask. Well, I _did_ still owe Kirigiri a favour for helping me out. One that he called to collect just about a year ago.

The Steering Committee had everything they needed to go through with the Kamukura Project. Though Kirigiri tried to stop it, he failed, and the artificially enhanced human known as Izuru Kamukura was created.

I’m not quite sure how but Kirigiri had managed to convince them to enroll Kamukura at our school but doing so allowed Kamukura to stay slightly further away from the Steering Committee’s influences, something we both welcomed.

The rest you should already know. It was class 1-A that spent the most time with him after all.”

From the side, Aizawa fumed. Clearly having been mostly unaware of these developments. “So _that_ was what he was hiding all this time…” Through gritted teeth, he muttered. “That certainly explains a lot…”

All-Might and Yukizome looked solemn, while Munakata had a serious expression and thanked Nedzu as he made his way back to his seat.

He then turned to the students. “I hope that you now have a sufficient understanding of the person you know as ‘Izuru Kamukura’.

And why I believe that he has and is currently aiding Ultimate Despair to perpetuate the Tragedy.”

“Wait, what?!”

“What are you saying!”

“Kamukura wouldn’t do that!” This last yell came from Midoriya as the whole class was caught off guard by what Munakata had just said. Kamukura was their classmate, they had taken classes together for almost an entire year. For Munakata to just come in here and accuse him of starting the apocalypse, it was no surprise that class 1-A would not react favourably.

“Settle down, class.” Aizawa calmed them down and stood up, confronting Munakata. “Why do you say that Kamukura is helping Ultimate Despair? Can you prove that statement?”

“I looked at the information regarding Kamukura.” Munakata stated. “He left the day before of Endeavour’s victory over the High End Nomu. That in and of itself is suspicious.”

“He didn’t _leave_. He is _missing_.” Aizawa corrected, a hint of venom in his voice. “Please do not let your biases influence you or your words. And if you mean to say that there’s a connection between the two events, I’d say it’s a pretty shaky theory. Certainly not very rational.”

“None of you have any idea what he is doing either, do you? This is what I feared when I learned about Hope’s Peak Academy creating a literal Deus Ex Machina. Creating something as dangerous as Kamukura, then not using a strong enough leash and allowing despair to take control of it.”

“UA does not leash its students.”

“I was talking about Hope’s Peak-“

“And if you have any proof that Izuru Kamukura, my student, is working or has been working with the biggest villain group of the past decade then I’d like to see it.”

Munakata regarded Aizawa with a cold gaze, one of contempt and vague disappointment. “Now who’s letting their biases influence their thinking.” He asked. “If you believe that he is innocent just because he is your student-“

“I _know_ what Kamukura is capable of.” Aizawa said through gritted teeth.

“Oh? Then perhaps _this_ may interest you.” Munakata said and turned to where the teachers are sitting. “Yukizome, can you prepare the video for me?”

“On it.” Yukizome said and took a disc out of her bag, she placed it into the player and turned on the projector.

“If anyone would like to leave at any point, feel free to do so. The video I am about to show you is quite graphic in nature.” Munakata warned and started the video.

* * *

He wasn’t wrong, the class agreed instantaneously. The video could be summed up in one word: Disturbing. It showed a number of teenagers dying in harsh, brutal ways. Each of them looking crazed and manic as they were attacked and killed.

The class wasn’t quite sure what the purpose of the video was until…

“Is that Kamukura?!” Someone shouted.

Sure enough, the distinctive Izuru Kamukura could be seen in the video. Long hair, red eyes that almost seemed to glow in the dim lighting, and a classy black suit.

“Why is he in this…?”

As they were wondering this, someone charged Kamukura with a chainsaw. Kamukura effortlessly pushed the man and the chainsaw away from him. The man bounced off the wall and fell onto the still running chainsaw, neatly severing his head into two.

“Uuuugh…”

“Gross…”

“What? Why would Kamukura…?” The class all expressed their shock at the event.

Kamukura began to walk away but suddenly, the man that tried to attack Kamukura lifted his hand and shot out a spike from his palm, grazing and cutting Kamukura on the cheek. He wiped the pink blood off and stared at his hands, a vague expression of disbelief appearing briefly on his face.

The video ends with Kamukura staring directly up into the camera, glaring harshly.

* * *

“I suspect that some of you are confused about what you just saw.” Munakata said, bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “Let me explain. What I showed you just now was the footage of the worst incident in the history of Hope’s Peak Academy, the Tragedy of Hope’s Peak Academy. In this incident, thirteen members of the Hope’s Peak’s student council were brutally murdered. The executives of the school then decided to cover up these murders. The reason for this cover up was because of what you saw. The primary suspect behind the incident was Izuru Kamukura.”

“Wait, cover up?” Midoriya called out. “How could they cover up the deaths of thirteen students? That doesn’t make any sense!”

“They claimed that the members of the student council were sent on an ‘overseas vacation’.” Munakata gave a ridiculous explanation that was nonetheless the truth. “In any case, the Tragedy of Hope’s Peak Academy was believed to be one of the first actions Ultimate Despair took and-”

“You’re saying Ultimate Despair originated from Hope’s Peak?!” Bakugou asked.

At the side, Yukizome bit her lip and looked down. No one noticed as Munakata continued his explanation. “Yes, we do believe that. Namely, it was Izuru Kamukura, the creation of Hope’s Peak Academy, that started the Tragedy.” Munakata said.

“Munakata.” Aizawa had his eyes narrowed. “When exactly did that incident happen at Hope’s Peak?”

The class immediately understood their teacher’s intentions. UA was a good distance away from Hope’s Peak Academy. If Kamukura was attending school at UA, then there wouldn’t be any time for him to instigate any tragedies at Hope’s Peak. Unfortunately for them...

Munakata told them the date the Tragedy of Hope’s Peak was known to have occurred. It was right after the UA Sports Festival, the week where they were all sent to different hero agencies for an internship. Kamukura, unlike the others, returned to Hope’s Peak Academy instead.

Aizawa explained this to Munakata reluctantly.

“I see... It was this video that made us believe that Kamukura was hidden somewhere inside Hope’s Peak. That was why our search never deviated from the school. So he merely returned temporarily and left again.”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t see how that short video proves that Kamukura had been working with Ultimate Despair.” Aizawa countered. “Kamukura was attacked by someone who intended to kill him, then defended himself. That was all he did. And besides, Kamukura is a provisionally licensed hero. There are numerous counts of him acting as a such. Saving lives, taking down villains.”

“Self-defense?” Munakata repeated, even with his steely tone he seemed to be mocking Aizawa. “He pushed a student into a running chainsaw.”

“Are you trying to say that he knew where the chainsaw _and_ the boy would land?”

“You have had him for over a year in your class. So you should have a much better idea of his abilities than we do. You even mentioned earlier that you know what he is capable of.” Munakata reasoned. “So tell me, do you believe that he is capable of such a feat?”

Aizawa clenched his teeth but didn’t say anything. He glanced at his students and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing. Their faces gave it all away. Kamukura _could_ predict something like that, even if they didn’t want to believe it.

Aizawa turned back to Munakata. “So are you saying that Kamukura pushed the boy into the chainsaw out of malice?”

“No, nothing of the sort. I’m saying that he did it out of boredom.”

Aizawa blinked. “Come again?”

Munakata turned to look at the image of Kamukura that remained on the screen. The video had paused as it ended. Kamukura had just wiped some of the blood off his cheek and was staring straight into the camera.

“I’m saying that he simply didn’t care whether or not his attacker lived or died. It’s likely he held no importance for any life other than his own.”

“And just how are you so sure as to what he thought? You said it yourself, you’ve never interacted with the boy, unlike all of us here.”

“No.” Munakata readily admitted. “I have never interacted with Kamukura. However, I do have some idea as to how his mind works.” Once again, he turned to Yukizome. “Do you still have it?”

She nodded. “It’s in my room.”

“Can you bring it? Just the footage for now.”

“Of course.” Yukizome answered and got up. Quietly, she left the room.

Several minutes passed before the Ultimate Housekeeper returned, holding a small paper square in her hands.

Munakata turned to the class. “The time that you have spent with Kamukura has likely made you believe that he is your friend or ally. What I am about to show you should change that.”

“He’s kidding right...?”

Munakata turned to Yukizome. Wordlessly, she prepared the disc.

She clicked on a file and the image of a teenage boy appeared on the screen in front of the class. He had short, brown hair and green eyes, and was staring directly into the camera with a stern expression.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Kamukura!” Hagakure exclaimed. Her sleeve moved up and was supposedly pointing at the boy with her invisible finger.

Midoriya looked back at the screen. “That’s... Kamukura?” He asked, not entirely convinced.

“Of course it is!” Hagakure insisted. “I’m incredibly good at recognizing faces! And that face belongs to Kamukura, I’m sure of it!”

Munakata said nothing and merely turned to Yukizome. She pressed play and they both got out of the way.

* * *

The video began to play.

“Now then, please state your name.” An old, detached voice came from somewhere off the screen. The boy nodded and began to speak.

“My name is Hajime Hinata.”

“Who’s Hajime Hinata?” Hagakure asked loudly and was shushed by the people around her. Though no one could see it, she was probably blushing.

“And why do you wish to participate in the Kamukura Project?” The voice continued and the class flinched. There was that name again.

“I... I was born without a quirk.” The boy looked down at his lap. “And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t develop a talent. I know people say that it doesn’t matter but... I want to be able to stand tall, hold my head up high and... I want to become someone that she- no, that _I_ can be proud of. I want to be talented.” Hinata looked up and had a determined look on his face.

“Very well put.” The voice sounded just the tiniest bit impressed. “Now then, let’s make this clear. Do you consent to participating in the Kamukura Project?”

“I do.” Hinata declared.

“Do you understand and accept the potential risks involved with the procedure?”

“I do.”

“Do you accept and understand that whatever changes are made to your body will be permanent?”

“I do.”

“Hmph.” The voice sounded like it was smiling. “Then, my boy, do you wish to become talented?”

“I do.”

“Wonderful, now the fun can begin.”

* * *

The video ended, and the class was confused. What did they just watch? It seemed normal enough, the boy known as Hajime Hinata was giving consent to being in some kind of experiment. The Kamukura Project. Munakata had mentioned it. But how was Hajime Hinata related to Izuru Kamukura?

Biting his lip, Midoriya stared intently at the screen while Yukizome prepared the next video. Hajime Hinata, that was Izuru Kamukura’s name before he became Kamukura. Which meant that Hagakure had been right, that boy in the video _was_ Kamukura...

But Hinata had been strange. He didn’t act like the Kamukura he knew. He was more expressive, more driven, more... hopeful. Though the Hinata in the video had seemed oddly familiar to Midoriya for some reason... It was as if he had met that person before. He just wasn’t sure where.

* * *

The next video started. Hinata was encased inside of a large machine. His arms, legs, and head were strapped in tight with bindings.

A disinterested voice said. “Begin.” And the machine lit up. There was a terrible, deafening noise, almost, but not quite able to drown out the sounds of Hinata’s pained screaming.

“Oh my-”

“What the heck?!”

“What, he’s…”

The students could barely contain their surprise as they watched the spectacle unfold before them. After what seemed like an eternity, the lights dimmed, and the machine stopped. Hinata stopped screaming and instead seemed to be content with just breathing heavily with his eyes wide open.

“The procedure was a success. We will move onto the next one immediately.”

That was the end of the video.

Midoriya felt sick. He had known that Kamukura was the result of some sort of experiment. He and Bakugou both knew. But he never knew just what that experiment had entailed. He looked towards Bakugou, the only other classmate of his who partly knew the truth behind Kamukura to see what his reaction was.

Bakugou’s eyes were wide, his mouth twisted in anger and disbelief. He turned to Midoriya and for a moment they locked eyes with one another. A silent conversation between them confirmed that neither of them knew of the truth behind the “Kamukura Project” that Kamukura told them about near the beginning of the school year.

Munakata cut through the class’ tense atmosphere like a knife. “The majority of the earlier videos are like that. I won’t force you to watch through them all. Instead, we’ll skip forward to a certain point. Yukizome, if you would.”

Yukizome exited out of that video and scrolled down until she found the video that she wanted. She double clicked it and the class was suddenly greeted with a close-up of Hinata’s head. There were clamps attached to his forehead and neck. A strange device seemed to be situated directly in front of his eyes. Although it wasn’t immediately obvious, his hair seemed to be longer than in the other videos.

Munakata observed the class. “If anyone would like to leave…”

No one moved a muscle. Their focus was directed entirely at the scene in front of them. Munakata shrugged and signaled to Yukizome.

* * *

As soon as she hit play, Hinata began squirming on the screen. His eyes were large, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and he was breathing heavily. It looked like he wanted to be anywhere but strapped forcefully to a laboratory table with a strange machine pointed directly at his eye.

A sentiment that can be easily empathized with.

There was a large needle located directly above Hinata’s right eye. A colourless fluid was encased within it and was slowly moving closer to Hinata.

“Subject, _do_ stop moving around so much.” A voice, slightly different than the one before, criticized Hinata from off screen. “This procedure is to improve your eyes to the levels of Ultimates. However, we require absolute stillness from you or we risk damaging your eyesight permanently. Do you understand?”

“Y-y-yes.” Hinata managed to say while shivering.

“Do you understand?” The voice repeated, louder and very clearly unsatisfied with Hinata’s response.

“I do!” Hinata closed his eyes and shouted.

“Subject, open your eyes!” The voice sounded exceedingly irritated.

Hinata forced his eyes open and the machine started moving again. As the needle moved closer and closer, Hinata got more and more frightened. Although he tried to put on a brave face, people could see that he was scared out of his mind.

 _And rightfully so_ , the class thought unanimously.

The needle suddenly stopped and slowly retracted. “That’s enough.” The voice said disappointingly.

“Wha-? But what about my eyes?” Hinata asked. He tried to turn his head but his restraints wouldn’t let him. “I- I can do this! Just let me-”

“We will prepare a different test for you, Subject.” The voice said. Hinata’s restraints released and he crawled off the bed. “Please make your way to test room E.”

The video cut to Hinata lying in a different bed. This time, there was a strange helmet attached to Hinata’s head. Hinata himself had his eyes closed. He was breathing softly, as though he were asleep.

“This procedure wasn’t meant to be done until several weeks later. However, there shouldn’t be a problem with starting it now.” The voice grumpily narrated. “Honestly wish we had test subjects that weren’t so jumpy, but alas.”

Lights started flashing and the helmet on Hinata’s head began to make noise. It was a soft buzzing sound, barely audible to the students.

“The removal of emotions is a delicate task, but an important one if we want to be able to control the eventual product. Too many emotions lead to desire, after all. And we’ve seen what too much desire led to from the events regarding that _mouse_. For now, we’ll focus on the Subject’s fear responses. Not too much, of course. He still needs to be able to protect his own life after all. So it isn’t quite correct to call it ‘removal’. Perhaps ‘suppression’ is a better word for it.”

The class was aghast. “Did he just say...?”

Yukizome ignored the class’ reactions and skipped ahead in the video. The helmet stopped buzzing and the machines’ lights dimmed. Hinata opened his eyes. The fancy helmet was removed, and he sat up on the bed.

“Subject, how are you feeling?”

Hinata blinked and shook his head. He seemed disoriented. “Fine, I guess? My head seems a little fuzzy, though. What exactly did you do to me?”

“Do you remember what the previous procedure entailed.” The voice asked, ignoring Hinata’s question.

Hinata nodded. “I do.”

“Do you feel that you are capable of handling it now?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Excellent.” The voice said. “Then hurry back to testing room B.”

The video cut and Hinata was back to where he started. This time, he steadfastly watched as the needle inched closer to his eye. He didn’t even flinch as it pierced the corner of his eye and injected an unknown liquid into him.

The students eagerly expressed their disgust.

* * *

“That’s enough of that.” Munakata said. “Let’s move onto the next one.”

Yukizome obliged and started a different video.

* * *

This time, Hinata could be seen in a dimly lit, but well stocked bedroom. The bed was neat and tidy, the bookshelves were stocked with books, and there was a large desk with supplies where one could do work on. There were no windows.

The door swung open without any sounds of knocking beforehand. Four men wearing black suits walked in.

“How are you feeling?” One of them asked. “Have you encountered any abnormalities? Headaches? Pains? Mood swings?”

“Mood swings?” Hinata repeated with a confused look on his face. “No, nothing like that. Why?”

“What about your accommodations? Is there anything you need or particularly want?” They ignored Hinata’s question and changed the subject.

“No, there’s nothing I need but... Hm, I guess a haircut might be nice.” Hinata shook his head to demonstrate his noticeably longer hair. It went to his shoulders and swished back and forth as he moved his head. He smiled nervously. “It’s getting kind of long, you know?”

“All in due time.” One of the men assured Hinata. “Now, come along. We have a busy schedule today.”

Hinata followed them out of the room.

* * *

“We can skip ahead a bit.” Munakata said and Yukizome nodded. She moved her mouse and clicked on a later part in the video.

* * *

Hinata had a weird device sticking out of his ears. They retracted and Hinata sat up.

“Subject, do you feel-”

“Ah. Aaaah.” Hinata made a noise, cutting off the voice that was speaking to him. “Hm? What the...”

He jumped off the bed and looked angrily into the camera. “What did you do? Why can’t I hear anything?”

“The side effects of this test are merely temporary and- ah, he can’t hear me.” The voice realized impassively.

“Hey, hey! Answer me, damnit!” Hinata yelled from inside the room.

“Sedate him.” The voice said and a couple of men in uniform entered the room. As Hinata was about to yell at them, they shot a tranquilizer dart at him and he fell to the floor. “Looks like this next procedure was scheduled just in time.” He said as the guards carried Hinata’s unconscious body out of the room.

“Anger is… a difficult emotion to work with. Too many different variables involved, too many… types of anger. Fury, rage, resentment... It is vital that it is removed in a satisfactory way, with no traces behind. If left uncontrolled, the subject’s anger will likely cause him to behave in… _unpredictable_ ways. Sense of freedom, sense of being violated, sense of being wronged, all that needs to be removed if we are to keep him… _cooperative_. Only then can we truly begin _tinkering_ with the boy. Only then can we start with some of the more dangerous tests.”

* * *

Yukizome stopped the video there. She didn’t move onto the next one. Munakata walked up to her. “We are almost finished. If you aren’t feeling well, you can-“

“No- no, I’m fine.” Yukizome shook her head. “Let’s keep going.”

Munakata gave a single nod. “If you’re sure.”

At this point the class had begun to feel sick to their stomachs. None had left the room as Munakata had suggested, but some were seriously considering it.

This… _this_ was what the Kamukura Project had been about? When Kamukura had been their classmate no one had had any doubts regarding his ability or where it could have came from. They just thought he was a bit of an oddball because of his quirk, which turned out to be just another lie.

_The world is boring. It is boring because I can predict everything that can possibly happen. That is the result of my quirk. My quirk allows me to accumulate talent._

It was all a believable series of explanations, so the class just went along with it. After all, there were all kinds of quirks out there, no one had even thought to question one person’s. Even if they were a bit strange.

And, I mean, come on. It’s not like your mind would’ve jumped to human experimentation immediately, right?

But watching the experimental data… Class 1-A had begun to realize just how blind they were to the truth.

Even when Munakata had told them about Hope’s Peak Academy’s secret experimentation. Even when he told them that Kamukura had been the result of their meddling. No one thought that this was the extent of their actions.

 _Kamukura had always been just a little bit strange_ , that was their honest belief.

Yukizome took another look at the students. She frowned, empathetic to their feelings right now. “Perhaps we should stop it here. I think they’ve got the idea by now.”

Munakata considered this then shook his head. “Just a little more. Though perhaps we should only show the important ones for now.”

“Alright.” Yukizome accepted this and started the next video.

* * *

Hinata was in his room, sitting on the bed. With one hand he was idly playing with his hair that reached all the way down to his waist.

The door opened, and the members of the Steering Committee stepped in. Without giving Hinata a chance to collect himself, they began. “Today we will begin to augment your physical capabilities. Your body may feel sore for a while, but you will have to bear with it. We are on a tight schedule and we do not have time for- Hm? Subject, are you listening?”

“Huh? Yeah, I am.” Hinata suddenly looked up and said. “What- what were we…?”

“Subject, pay attention.” Another member of the committee scolded Hinata. “We don’t have time for your flights of fancy.”

“Sorry…” Hinata apologized. “I was just… thinking about how long I’ve been down here. I- I know you said at the beginning that I wasn’t allowed to leave or see anyone or let anyone visit me, but… I just can’t help but wonder what’s been happening on the outside.”

“We’ll get you a magazine. Now, come along.”

“That’s not… that’s not what I meant.” Hinata obstinately refused, drawing glares from the Steering Committee. “I want to know how my parents are doing. I want to know how Nana- my friends are doing. I’ve been alone here all this time.”

The Steering Committee looked at one another then at Hinata. One of them sighed. “I suppose… we can make a change in the schedule. Follow us, if you will.” They turned and left with Hinata following close behind.

Yukizome paused the video there.

“They… don’t need to see the rest, do they? And the next few...” She asked, looking downtrodden.

The class wasn’t so naive as to think that something good may have happened to Hinata during this scene. They knew exactly what was coming next. Yukizome wanted to spare them from actually having to see it.

As for what will happen afterwards... They didn’t think that ‘joy’ might be considered a negative emotion for the Steering Committee’s goals. But they knew what Kamukura was like at the present... There wasn’t any reason to watch further.

“No, I suppose not.” Munakata relented. “Alright, just one more and we can finish here.”

“Right.” Yukizome scrolled and clicked on the very last video in the folder.

\-----

The next video showed a large machine. Although it was built with windows, no one could see into it. Suddenly, it opened, and a large amount of steam billowed forth. Once the steam cleared, a man could clearly be seen.

It was Hajime Hinata. Though he had red eyes instead of green and long, black hair that went all the way down to his ankles… no. That person could no longer be called Hajime Hinata.

“It seems that the operation was a success. All memories pertaining to ‘Hajime Hinata’ have been erased.” A voice said, realizing class 1-A’s fears. “It is on this day Izuru Kamukura is born. The Ultimate Hope that will pave the path for a new society.”

Izuru Kamukura stepped out of the machine gracefully. He took one look at the camera and sighed.

The video ends here.

* * *

Yukizome exited out of the player. She ejected the disc and brought it with her to her seat. Munakata whispered his thanks as she passed by him and she flashed a weak smile.

He then turned to address the class. “The reason I showed you all this was not to upset you all, or to shock you. The reason I showed you all of that just now was to reveal to you the true nature of Izuru Kamukura.”

“Kamukura’s… true nature?” Midoriya asked, carefully forming the words in his mouth.

“Izuru Kamukura was never your friend.” Munakata declared forcefully. “He was an emotionless tool made by Hope’s Peak Academy. His emotions were suppressed and all memories of his past were wiped clean. He feels nothing but boredom. Don’t mistake him for a hero, and certainly don’t mistake him for an ally.”

Midoriya perked up at this. Munakata was… he was _wrong_. Kamukura had his memories wiped, yes. Midoriya already knew that. But he also knew that Kamukura had restored his previous memories after their talk after the Sports Festival. Midoriya was the only one who knew.

But what should he do with this information? It was… it wasn’t much. It could hardly beat out all the crazy footage that they just saw, and everything that they _didn’t_ see. No, Midoriya decided to keep this a secret for now.

The class was completely silent as they absorbed what Munakata had just said. The scenes they witnessed had put out the fire that was burning in their hearts.

“I hope that this has given you all an adequate understanding into Izuru Kamukura’s mental state. For those of you seeking more information on Kamukura and the Kamukura Project you may contact Yukizome. I will allow her to make the decision as to what will remain classified and what we will be allowed to show you.” Munakata stated with a hint of finality in his voice. “To reiterate, Kamukura may be working with Ultimate Despair or he may not. However, in either case you must understand that he is not the person you all thought he was. From here on out, Izuru Kamukura will be treated as a suspect in the case of the Tragedy. If you do encounter him do not make the mistake of thinking he is an ally of the Future Foundation and take necessary precautions. That will be all. You are dismissed!”

Munakata said this and briskly left the classroom. Everyone else sat in stunned silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, this chapter got really long and I still couldn’t fit in everything I wanted. What a shame. Originally, I planned it to be even longer.  
> Well, let me know what you think of the chapter.
> 
> Next chapter: Dealing with knowing the truth
> 
> Next chapter may be delayed. Apologies in advance if it is.


	4. Chapter 4

After Munakata made his exit, everyone else started to shuffle out of the classroom as well. Aizawa watched as his students hurriedly whispered among themselves over what they had just watched and what they had been told. They were frenetic, though he couldn’t make out any of the specifics besides the occasional “Kamukura.”

He understood their reactions. Aizawa was surprised as well. He watched as Principal Nedzu exited the room following the students, waiting for the others to pass so that he wasn’t caught up in the sea of legs that flowed through the doorway. He had been hiding it for so long. Ever since Kamukura came to the school. Their principal had been hiding the truth about Kamukura from everyone, including the teachers.

Aizawa pursed his lips. He wondered what would have happened if he decided to expel Kamukura as he had originally intended. Nedzu said that he had allowed Aizawa to do what he wanted with the boy, but did he really mean that? If he expelled Kamukura, then he would have had to go back to that laboratory in Hope’s Peak. What would have happened to him at that point? More experiments?

To Nedzu, and almost every other teacher at UA, it wasn’t a secret that Aizawa had been suspicious of both Kamukura and Nedzu from the very first day of class. Everything their principal ever did: allowing him to live in one of the unfinished dorm rooms, preventing Kamukura from participating in the Sports Festival, sending him back to Hope’s Peak for his internship week, and Nedzu offering to talk to Kamukura’s ‘guardians’ himself when asking him to live in the dorms. It was all just slightly out of place, and Aizawa had questioned it at every angle to no avail. Nedzu had always pulled out some vague explanation or dodged Aizawa’s questions entirely.

And Aizawa didn’t have a choice, Kamukura’s private life had been just that: Private. He treated him as he would any other student, and that meant he couldn’t simply start digging to find out everything about the boy just because he didn’t trust him. Nor could he administer any sort of punishments on Kamukura himself because of his suspicions.

And even when he had thought about expelling Kamukura, he had thought to do so on the basis that Kamukura didn’t seem to be motivated to becoming a hero like the rest of the class. Not because of any suspicions he held towards the boy’s relationship to Nedzu. In the end, he decided to hold off on his judgment. A decision that Aizawa _thought_ had been the correct choice given everything that happened. Up to Kamukura’s mysterious disappearance.

Now, Aizawa was left to wonder: could all of this have been avoided somehow?

Aizawa shook his head and scowled. Asking himself questions like that at this point won’t benefit anyone. Aizawa watched everyone exit without moving from his seat. Slowly, once they all left, he started to stand up and-

“Hey, you’re Aizawa, right?” A voice called out and startled him, though he didn’t let it show. He didn’t hear her approach, was he that lost in his thoughts? “I’m Chisa Yukizome. We haven’t been formally introduced yet, have we? Even though we’re both division leaders.”

Aizawa studied the woman. He knew that Yukizome was in charge of the intelligence gathering division at the Future Foundation and was the Ultimate Housekeeper from her time at Hope’s Peak Academy. Right now she was smiling brightly at Aizawa.

“No... I suppose we haven’t.” Aizawa said. “I’m Shouta Aizawa. I’m in charge of the student heroes and class 1-A’s homeroom teacher..”

Yukizome’s smile faded. “Oh.” She said quietly. “Did you know about Kamukura?”

Aizawa turned his head away and scowled.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty horrible, actually.” Aizawa admitted. “It feels like everything I knew just got flipped upside-down. I don’t know if I can accept Kamukura being a traitor but... I’m not sure if I can trust him, either.”

“I know how you feel.” Yukizome said sadly. “I was a homeroom teacher too. I taught the 77th class at Hope’s Peak.”

“You... wasn’t Kizakura the homeroom teacher?”

“I started last year.” Yukizome explained. “Even though it was only supposed to be a cover for the investigation into Hope’s Peak that Kyosuke was just talking about. I took a position as homeroom teacher, and Juzo was head of security.

I was the one who uncovered all the files on the Kamukura Project, you know?”

Yukizome smiled proudly but with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“You were the one...?” Aizawa muttered. Was she trained as a spy? If so, that could explain why he didn’t notice her earlier.

Yukizome continued without noticing Aizawa’s thoughts. “Even though it was only meant to be my cover, I still gave it my all when teaching. As a result, I started to grow attached to those kids. I know that you’ve been teaching far longer than I have but... I still feel that I know what you’re going through. My students meant the world to me and if anything were to have happened to them...”

“No. I understand.” Aizawa said. “I don’t think it matters how long you’ve been teaching. You start to care for your students as you watch them grow. It’s only natural.”

Yukizome smiled a relieved smile. “Thanks. And I know this might sound a little simple, but you just have to keep believing in them.”

Aizawa was silent for a while, taking in Yukizome’s words. The corners of his mouth tugged upwards and he pretended to readjust his scarf to cover it. “Thanks. Though, I don’t suppose you know what it’s like to suspect your students of ending the world.”

“Haha. Yeah, you’re right.”

Aizawa said goodbye and began to exit. He didn’t look back at Yukizome. Even if he did, he probably wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong.

Yukizome was left standing alone in an empty classroom. She was smiling sadly, still looking at the door that Aizawa just went through. Quietly, she whispered. “I just have to continue believing in them. Right?”

* * *

As soon as the meeting had ended, All-Might called Midoriya and Bakugou to his office in order to further discuss what they have just learned about Kamukura.

“Kacchan and I... we both knew that Kamukura was a part of something called the ‘Kamukura Project’.” Midoriya started. “He told us about it on the very first day of class. I think both Kacchan and I... we never expected that... that...”

“ _That._ ” Bakugou finished. Succinctly conveying their feelings on the matter.

There was a brief moment of silence as they recalled the horrific scenes.

“It was... quite upsetting, for sure.” All-Might agreed. “Though, I believe I understand why he leaves hair so long now, after watching that.”

Faced with looks of confusion and curiosity, All-Might explained. “His memories were only wiped near the very end of the procedures. They only refer to him as ‘Izuru Kamukura’ after that. If Kamukura’s memories started there, then he may have felt that his hair was a part of him. That he was ‘born’ with it, as it were. As such, Kamukura would likely see no reason to pointlessly cutting his hair.”

“That’s why...!”

“Damn...”

All-Might’s explanation cleared the confusion in their minds, while simultaneously reminding them of how horrible Hinata’s treatment at the hands of the Steering Committee truly was.

“So Kamukura told you about his involvement in this project beforehand. Why did he do this?” All-Might’s question snapped the students back to reality.

“It’s ‘cause I got pissed at him.” Bakugou crossed his arms as he started to recall his memories of the start of school. “It was the first battle exercise and the first hero class we had. We were split up into hero and villain teams and had to disable or protect a bomb.”

“Ah, yes I remember the class well.” All-Might smiled fondly at the memory.

“Yeah, well... I lost to Deku’s team but I got picked again and got matched with Kamukura. Not wanting to lose again, I asked Kamukura what his quirk was but...”

“But since he was quirkless, he told you as such.” Midoriya finished for him.

“I thought he was messing with me or something!” Bakugou yelled. “After that, well... he followed Deku and me to the front of the school and he told us his thing about being a part of the Kamukura Project. Honestly, I can hardly remember what he told us now.”

“It _was_ a long time ago.” Midoriya agreed.

“I’m guessing that he didn’t tell you all the grisly details.” All-Might speculated.

Both boys shook their heads. All-Might sighed. They were silent before Bakugou spoke up.

“Why do you think he did it?”

“Why did Kamukura tell you about it, you mean?” All-Might raised an eyebrow. “You think he had an ulterior motive?”

“No, I mean… why did that Hinata guy agree to all of that.” Bakugou said. “Even if he didn’t know exactly what was going to be done to him, he should’ve thought that it sounded fishy at least.”

“Hope’s Peak Academy… had a good reputation.” All-Might offered. “If what Munakata said was true, then it’s likely that this Steering Committee took advantage of that to gain the students’ trust.”

“Even so…” Bakugou considered this. “Why was he so adamant about being talented in the first place? It’s not like you need a talent to survive.”

“You don’t need a talent to survive, no. Just like you don’t need a quirk.” Midoriya said silently, catching both Bakugou’s and All-Might’s attention. He was staring forward with a vague expression. “But if he was constantly in the presence of them… if he was constantly reminded of what he didn’t have, then he might’ve felt… _inferior_.”

Bakugou looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. Instead, he just looked away. Neither of them were facing each other. All-Might observed them silently until he started to realize something.

“Er, that- Young Midoriya, I…” All-Might stammered and the others looked at him. He calmed himself and continued. “It’s just that I… I can hardly ignore the similarities between yours and Hinata’s situation. From feeling powerless to being offered power from a trusted source…”

“It’s not the same at all!” Midoriya objected suddenly then calmed down once he realized he shouted. “I mean, you’re talking about One for All, right? I know you said that you wanted me to be your successor, so I recognize that you didn’t give it to me out of pure selflessness, but… You definitely can’t compare yourself to _them_ , All-Might.”

Bakugou looked from Midoriya to All-Might, both seemed to be feeling extremely awkward, a feeling that was starting to rub off on him as well.

“But I withheld important information. I never told you anything about All for One or the past holders of the quirk.” All-Might put his elbows on the table and pressed his thumbs up to his forehead. “I was of no use when you didn’t have a handle on it yet. And now, you’re going to develop six additional quirks because of One for All and I have no way of guiding you…”

“But none of that was your fault.” Midoriya countered. “You couldn’t have told me about All for One that early as it was supposed to be a secret. You mastered One for All quickly so not being able to teach me… that’s not the same as withholding information. The same with not knowing that I’ll be getting the quirks of past One for All users. All-Might, you can’t compare yourself with the Steering Committee because… because you actually cared about me, unlike the committee that only cared about the end product of their experiments.”

“Young Midoriya, I…” All-Might was at a loss for words. Together, the three of them sat in silence before Bakugou spoke up.

“What about the other thing that Munakata mentioned? He suspects Kamukura of being a part of Ultimate Despair.”

“He’s wrong.” Midoriya stated flatly. “It’s not possible. It’s… it’s Kamukura.”

“Munakata said that we shouldn’t let the time we spent with him influence our judgment of the matter.” All-Might reminded grimly.

“I know that- I just… Kamukura has helped me on quite a few occasions.” Midoriya said. “He helped me take notes during the Sports Festival when he wasn’t allowed to participate.”

“And now we know why that was.” Bakugou muttered.

“He saved my life at the training camp, and Kouta’s. And we saved Eri from Chisaki together. He even… He even made it so that we wouldn’t get in trouble when Kacchan and I fought.” Midoriya looked up as he suddenly remembered something.

“And that was when… that was when All-Might explained the history of One for All to him and Kacchan.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“But what does this have to do with… Hmm, I think I see.” All-Might slowly started to realize.

“Ultimate Despair’s been blasting all sorts of shit about heroes, from Endeavour up til now. But we never heard a word about anything regarding All-Might.” Bakugou reasoned. “So that means…”

“That means that Kamukura hasn’t betrayed us!” Midoriya said joyfully. He looked at the others in the room but they didn’t seem to agree.

“If that’s the case, then… where _is_ Kamukura at this moment?” All-Might brought up a good point.

“Er, that’s…”

“Fuck! Just guessing isn’t going to get us anywhere with this.” Bakugou said. The other two silently agreed and looked at each other worriedly.

Slowly, Bakugou began to speak. “I got an idea.” He said and they turned expectantly. “Munakata said that Yukizome was going to open her office to anyone who wanted more information on Kamukura, right?”

“Ah, that’s right.” All-Might nodded. “Are you planning on going?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna try and dig up as much information on the guy as I can.” Bakugou laid out his plans to the others. “Maybe there’ll be something important in there.”

“Huh, really? You’ll do that?” Midoriya’s eyes brightened and he stared at his friend in awe.

“I got nothing better to do. I got taken off of active field duty, remember?” Bakugou glowered at Midoriya, who shrank back a little. “I might as well find some way to pass the time.”

“Oh yeah… well, thanks.” Midoriya turned from sad to hopeful as Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“Either way… I hope that you’ll be able to find something big.” All-Might said. “For now, if there’s nothing more to discuss, I suppose we can end this meeting here. Midoriya, you have a special case today, right?”

“That’s right.” Midoriya said as they stood up. “Someone from a nearby town filed a report. They said that some people’s pets have been disappearing. Munakata said that it was probably not dangerous so he assigned it to us.”

“Even so, losing their pets at a time like this…” All-Might trailed off. “Well, give it your all. I’m sure you two will be able to produce great results.”

* * *

It was early in the afternoon when Bakugou started to make his way to Yukizome’s office. After he was suspended from field duty, Bakugou had been given other duties at the Future Foundation. Namely, processing paperwork, filing forms, and going through the reports of other heroes. He worked through those tasks with his usual diligence, then promptly started his investigation into the Kamukura Project.

A knock at the door. Yukizome looked up from what she was reading and asked them to come in with a bright, cheerful voice. A grumpy-looking Bakugou shuffled into the room. He closed the door behind him and plopped onto a chair. Yukizome smiled at her visitor.

“Welcome!” Yukizome greeted. “I saw you at the meeting earlier. How are you holding up?”

“Fine.” Bakugou replied bluntly.

“Were you close to Kamukura?”

“No.” Bakugou huffed, then hesitated. “Well, I mean, but... No, no we weren’t” He decided.

Yukizome tilted her head as if she wasn’t quite sure how to take this response. Eventually, a soft smile returned to her face. “I see.”

Yukizome studied Bakugou before continuing. “Well, what can I do for you today, er...”

“Katsuki Bakugou. Of 1-A. And I wanted all the information you had on Izuru Kamukura.”

“Oh!” Yukizome looked surprised. “I was wondering if anyone would actually take that offer. What sort of information were you looking for?”

“Whatever you got. I’ll take it.” Bakugou demanded.

“Are you sure? There’s a lot of information about this project, you know?”

“I’ve got time.” Bakugou confidently declared.

Yukizome pondered the boy’s request briefly, then proceeded to pull out a large file with a stack of papers stuffed inside it. “I haven’t made photocopies yet so you’ll have to examine it in here, is that okay?”

“That’s fine.” He said. Bakugou reached for the nearest folder and started to open it. Yukizome quickly called out. “Ah, maybe not that one.” Bakugou looked at her suspiciously. “That one is about the procedures and operations that were done to Hinata in order to turn him into Kamukura. As you saw earlier, not all of them are pretty.”

Bakugou’s eyes moved from Yukizome to the folder he was holding. He started to slide the folder back before he paused. “Actually, I’m curious. How _did_ Hope’s Peak give Hinata all those talents?”

“Eh, well...” Yukizome pursed her mouth. “The majority of talents were simply the knowledge related to the talent. For example, all the information regarding the Ultimate Programmer or the Ultimate Writer was stuffed into Hinata’s brain, and that was all they needed to do. That information’s in the third section if you want to read about it.” Yukizome pointed at the folder which Bakugou started to flip through.

“However, in addition to that knowledge, they needed to make some changes to his body. Someone’s who’s played piano for a long time will have more flexible hands than someone who hasn’t. A tennis player will know how to play tennis and have the muscle memory associated from training. How to swing a racket, how to stand on the court, stuff like that. And naturally, a sniper must have exceptional eyesight.” Bakugou shivered internally. “So they made a bunch of adjustments to his body as well. It required a lot of surgery and, well, other enhancements.”

Bakugou nodded and Yukizome continued. “Of course, that wasn’t all that was done to Hinata. If you remember from this morning, Hinata’s memories and emotions were removed as well.”

“Yeah... But why’d they do something like that?” Bakugou asked. “I mean, even they can see how unnatural he acts, right?”

“Well... The Steering Committee cared more about controlling Kamukura than they did about keeping Hinata happy. Without emotions, it was less likely that Hinata would develop a desire for freedom or feel that his treatment was unjust. The same goes for removing his memories. There’s a section on that in the files if you’re curious.”

“No, that’s... that’s fine.” Bakugou muttered. Skimming the files for anything useful. He closed it and slid it back.

“Why did Hinata even agree to this in the first place?” Not for the first time that day, he wondered about this.

“Well, I can’t say for certain, but...” Yukizome frowned as she seemed to recall a long-forgotten memory. “I had the opportunity to talk with Hinata once. I think it was partly due to the feelings of inadequacy over not having an ultimate talent.”

“Is that right...” Bakugou said then realized something and looked up. “Wait, you knew him?”

“Not really. He was friends with one of my students, so we met coincidentally. At the time that we met, he was attending Hope’s Peak as a Reserve Course Student. One of the things we were investigating at Hope’s Peak was the Reserve Course, so I wanted to ask him if he had any special reason to join.”

“What’d he say?” Bakugou was curious about this. He hadn’t heard good things about the Reserve Course.

“Ahaha. I forgot to ask him.” Yukizome looked embarrassed.

“Seriously?” Bakugou was disappointed. “But... so Hinata was in the Reserve Course, huh? Didn’t they all die? Wait...?”

“Around that time, he had already been expelled. Or so it seemed.” Yukizome said sadly.

“Expelled?”

“Once he agreed to participate in the Kamukura Project they had to cover up the fact that he wasn’t Hajime Hinata anymore. It was a simple enough way to remove him from their systems. Apparently, he hadn’t fully paid off his tuition either, so the expulsion was easy to justify. No one suspected a thing.”

“The fees? Was his family poor or something?”

“That wasn’t it, I’m afraid.” Yukizome smiled sadly. “It was mostly due to the nature of the Reserve Course.”

“The nature...? What about its nature?”

“Well... The Reserve Course was opened by Headmaster Kirigiri after seeing the success of UA’s General Education Course. Though he originally wanted it to be a way for people to attend Hope’s Peak without requiring a talent, the Steering Committee changed it into a way to use Hope’s Peak’s prestigious name to make students pay exorbitant amounts of money in order to attend.”

“What, that’s horrible!”

“It was.” Yukizome agreed. “Headmaster Kirigiri and the Steering Committee often fought many political battles over how the school should be run. Kirigiri wanted to dedicate it to its students, while the Steering Committee cared more about talent.”

“Fuck... So all this is the Steering Committee’s fault.” Bakugou said.

“Yeah... You could say that.” Yukizome sighed. “They did pretty much everything that eventually led to Hope’s Peak’s downfall. The Kamukura Project, the Tragedy of Hope’s Peak Academy, the Parade...”

“Parade?” Bakugou asked. A parade seemed innocent enough, so what did it have to do with the Steering Committee?

Yukizome rubbed her temples at the thought. “You remember earlier when Kyosuke said that all the deaths of the student council members were covered up, right?” Bakugou nodded and Yukizome continued. “Well, somehow it all got leaked to the Reserve Course students, along with the fact that Kamukura was a suspect. They were angry that their tuition was being used on these experiments and so they started to storm the Main buildings. They were repelled by Juzo and Kyosuke so they started to protest outside of the main gates. The Steering Committee covered up these protests by calling it a Parade.”

“A protest?” Bakugou pondered this. “There were over two thousand Reserve Course students, weren’t there? There’s no way that the media could’ve ignored something like that and simply pass it off as a parade.”

“About that...” Yukizome tapped her chin. “I believe that was around the time that a student was kidnapped from UA, so the media was more focused on them instead. Honestly, I was surprised at how easy it was for Hope’s Peak to fly under the radar like that. I guess that’s how it goes in a hero-based society.”

“I-is that so...” Bakugou almost coughed, but instead swallowed nervously. Besides a very few important people in the hero industry, everyone at the camp, and Bakugou’s parents themselves, no one had been told the identity of the student that was kidnapped from the Forest Training Camp. Bakugou briefly wondered if he should share this information with Yukizome, then decided against it.

“So what do you think?” Yukizome asked.

“Huh?” Bakugou was brought out of his thoughts. “About what?”

“About Hope’s Peak Academy. It doesn’t seem as great as all the legends made it out to be, huh?”

“Well, I mean... Nah, it’s mostly just the Steering Committee’s doing, isn’t it?”

Yukizome smiled at Bakugou’s words, then moved her hands over the files on the table. “Well, we shouldn’t be wasting all this time talking. I mean, you still want to prove Kamukura’s innocence, right?”

“Yeah, I- what?” Bakugou looked up.

“That’s why you’re here, right? To help your friend?”

“Tch.” Bakugou made a noise. “I just wanted some way to pass the time while I was suspended. That’s all.”

Yukizome tilted her head. “Well, if you’re sure.” She said in a quiet voice.

Bakugou ignored her and took another file.

* * *

Several hours passed since Bakugou began his investigation. Together with Yukizome, they had gone over most of the documents that she had. Any time Bakugou seemed confused on something, Yukizome would provide a simple explanation to aid in his understanding.

Right now, they were going over the reported deaths of the Steering Committee and how the Kamukura Project had been canceled when Yukizome stopped him.

“I think it’s about time to take a break, don’t you think?” Yukizome’s smile persisted even through Bakugou’s glare.

“I can still keep going.” Bakugou declared.

“The records will still be here tomorrow. Besides, it’s around the time that your classmates are coming back. Don’t you want to go greet them?

“Huh? Why would I-?”

Bakugou’s question was cut short as they heard a shout outside of the office.

“It’s that green-haired kid’s team again! Why is it always them?” They heard passing footsteps stomp by the hallway outside. Bakugou turned instinctively when he heard and then back at Yukizome.

She tilted her head in confusion. “Wonder what’s going on.”

They rushed out to where all the commotion was taking place. The scene was nothing short of chaotic. Midoriya, Uraraka, and Asui had been dispatched to check out the report, they were a competent team handling what should have been a fairly low-risk mission. Although Bakugou didn’t get a good look at them from where he was standing, he could tell they had sustained quite a few injuries. Behind them stood a large number of people. Judging from the ragged clothes they were wearing, they weren’t foundation staff members. From the heavy looks on their faces, they didn’t seem to be villains either.

While everyone was rushing around, Bakugou spotted his classmates staring at the scene from the sides, he found Kirishima and asked. “What’s going on?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s you.” Kirishima turned around. “Well, I’m not too sure about all the details myself but...

Apparently, they encountered another Ultimate Despair.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting!
> 
> Next chapter: We see what happened to Midoriya
> 
> Who did Midoriya meet? It’s one of class 77 and I’ve given you… one hint. Maybe two. Make your guesses!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many people have guessed that Gundham Tanaka would be the Ultimate Despair that Midoriya and co. meet in this chapter. Let’s see if you’re right.

Inside of a small, run-down home, a large family was having dinner. They crowded around the dinner table laughing and chatting amicably. There were an assortment of ages that were gathered. From as young as three to as old as nineteen, plus the mother who was watching her children carefully.

By and large, happy family scenes such as this weren’t as much of a rare sight as one might imagine even after the Tragedy. Although Ultimate Despair was fearsome, they couldn’t quite spread their reign of terror everywhere. Forgotten and out-of-the-way places such as here were left relatively untouched by the world-changing effects of Despair. Sure, there was the occasional Monokuma that would wander off from its pack and rear its ugly head near the town, but a single Monokuma wasn’t as scary as the whole herd. To the residents of this town, inflation was their biggest concern after the Tragedy.

The mother looked at the happy faces on her children’s faces. All her children were safe and sound, and they had food on the table. Such a scene wasn’t common for their family, she knew that. After several remarriages, holding down a job and keeping her family fed had been a daunting task. There had been several nights where she and many of her children had gone to bed hungry, such memories came all too easy for the poor woman, she should be glad that they aren’t worrying about it now.

That’s right, she should be happy.

The scene in front of her hadn’t been so happy just a few days ago. When she first heard about the Tragedy, her first thought was about her oldest daughter. She had left to attend high school and rarely returned home. She was worried about the safety of her daughter, knowing that she could have been caught up in the Tragedy.

There was no greater feeling of relief than when she heard that knock on the door, opened it and saw her daughter smiling happily as if nothing was wrong. It had been several months after they heard about the Tragedy. Such a sight came as a relief to them all, her younger brother, the second oldest, as well as all the rest of her siblings had rushed to greet her, grateful that she finally came home.

From there, things started to change.

Something was off. Of course, she had left home and attended a prestigious high school in the city for almost two years, growth and maturity was expected. But the change that she sensed was different. Her previously gray eyes had turned red and would sometimes fill with dark, irregular swirls. Her slender, athletic body had grown thin, almost too thin. And she never seemed to see her eat anything at meals.

She acted the same as she always did before she left. It didn’t seem like her other children noticed any particular change in that regard. Her daughter would happily help out around the house, scold her siblings when they got into trouble, and generally act as a good big sister for them all. So, perhaps she was just imagining things after all.

One day, she had casually mentioned how the prices at the market had gotten so expensive, and whether or not they would have enough money. The next day, her daughter came home with a plastic bag tucked under her arms. When questioned about what she was carrying, she had simply smiled and said it was meat. Her mother had wanted to ask where she got it from, but restrained herself. She was afraid of what her daughter might answer.

A week had passed, and her family hadn’t had to worry about food since. They were happy, safe, and well-fed, and most importantly, they were together. That was what the woman thought as she ate. But she wasn’t smiling, she simply picked at her food, bringing a spoon to her mouth every so often with slow, methodical movements. A lump of meat made its way into her mouth, and she struggled to force herself to chew and swallow it. Her attention was focused solely on her children. Two of them, aged four and five respectively, were eagerly splashing the soup everywhere but their mouths while their older siblings were taking turns wiping up the mess that was created and feeding them directly. It was a heartwarming family dinner scene that did nothing to calm their mother’s nerves.

One of the children missed bringing down his spoon and knocked it out of his weak grip causing it to land on the floor with a loud clatter. The older brother immediately went to fetch a new one. While this was happening, another child, aged ten, watched her older sister with curiosity. She pointed at the empty spot on the table in front of her and asked. “Why aren’t you eating dinner?”

“Eh, I’m not feeling that hungry today.” She answered with a bright smile. The woman watched the exchange with worried eyes, her gaze lingered on the girl for longer than she had intended, and she turned towards her. Their eyes met. She was probably just imagining it, but there was a certain spark in her daughter’s eye.

“What’s wrong, mom?” She asked.

“O-oh, nothing’s wrong. It’s fine.” The mother stammered and brought a spoon to her mouth. She studied the liquid, then blew on it a few times. Giving another glance to the girl, she quickly tilted the spoon and drank the broth. Fixing her daughter with a level-headed gaze, she said. “It’s just a little hot right now.”

“Eh, that’s what happens when you get old.” She lost all interest immediately and went back to watching her younger siblings struggle.

She quietly shook these thoughts out of her head. They were a family and they were together again, that was all that mattered. She took another sip and forced a smile onto her face.

* * *

Midoriya, Uraraka, and Asui made their way through the town. Silently observing the surroundings.

“Apparently the Monokuma don’t come here often. So it was never a target for patrols.” Asui repeated what little information they had been given at the briefing. “I wonder why.”

“Maybe they don’t see this place as necessary to attack?” Uraraka gave a suggestion. “It’s pretty far out of the way. Though, I’m not too good with military strategy, anyway.”

“No, I think you’re right.” Midoriya commented. “This town is too far at the outer edges of the map. And there are other places that would be more beneficial for despair to take control of than here. So I think that’s the reason they haven’t targeted this place yet.”

“So even Ultimate Despair takes these things into consideration, huh?” Asui noted. “Maybe they’re not as manic as we thought.”

“Maybe...” Uraraka said, though she didn’t seem convinced.

The report had come in around two days ago. Rumour has it that Munakata barely gave it a second glance before passing it off to Aizawa to handle, citing that “this should be something your students can handle.” Aizawa then briefed them on their mission: Ask around, try and find any clues about the disappearance.

The students went around knocking on the doors of various households and chatting with just about anyone who would listen. They asked them if they ever saw or noticed anything suspicious. Up to and including when they noticed that people’s pets had gone missing.

“Well, I wouldn’t say it was suspicious but... I heard that the family over there had their daughter come back recently after she went off to school. It must have been a big relief to learn that she was safe. If only the same can be true for my Hamsuke.”

“I think I saw a suspicious shadow or something jumping about the day that Daichi disappeared. It was moving around weirdly and was unnaturally fast. When I got a good look at it, I thought I saw a ghoul staring me right in the face.”

“It was the work of the Chupacabra, I’m telling you. It likes to drag its pray away slowly and suck its blood until the poor creature is nothing but flesh and bone. But we don’t have worry about it, you see? The Chupacabra only sucks animals. Us humans don’t have to worry about him. Well, that may not be the case for the frog girl but you two won’t be in much danger if you’re just visiting this town. After finishing off what he can here, the Chupacabra will likely move onto a different place to feed.”

The students bid them farewell and continued along on their investigation.

“Do you really think this was the work of a... What did he call it, a Chupacabra?” Uraraka asked after a while.

“Well, considering that the legend of the Chupacabra originated in South America and we’re in Japan, I’d say it’s pretty unlikely.” Midoriya commented.

“Maybe they migrated.” Suggested Asui.

As they voiced their ideas, the three heroes arrived in front of another house. Midoriya went and knocked on the door.

“I got it!” They heard a voice coming from inside, followed by the sound of a person’s feet hitting the ground right behind the door, which quickly swung open.

They were greeted by a girl who seemed to be about the same age as them. She had tan skin and brown hair and was eyeing the heroes suspiciously. "So? What do you want?"

“Hi, we’re heroes sent by the Future Foundation here to investigate the missing reports-”

“Huh? So, you’re not from around here?” The girl’s eyes widened as she studied Midoriya. She quickly looked over Uraraka and Asui, her gaze predatory, like a wild animal. Suddenly, her face lit up. “Oh yeah! That thing! About the thing that was happening. Yeah, we had problems with that too. Why don’t you come in?” 

“So, your pet has also gone missing...?” Midoriya asked tentatively. Uraraka wasn’t sure but she got a strange vibe from this girl. Perhaps Midoriya felt the same way.

“Huh? We don’t have any- I mean, yeah! Yeah, of course that’s it!” The girl corrected herself mid-sentence. “Come on in so I can, uh, tell you about it.”

“Huh? Wha- hey!” She grabbed Midoriya’s arm and started to drag him inside. Uraraka narrowed her eyes. From the way he was being pulled, it seemed that she was stronger than Midoriya had previously given her credit for. She stole a glance at Asui before following them in.

“Look guys, heroes!” The girl called out when they were inside.

When they got inside, they immediately noticed the rest of the girl’s family. Her mother caught their eye first. She had the same tan skin and black hair as her daughter. Though unlike her, she seemed more reserved. Uraraka noted the dark bags under the woman’s eyes.

Well, it was no wonder that she must be tired. She thought this as she studied the rest of the girl’s family. _Big_ was the only way to describe it. Uraraka was an only child, so the intricacies of having siblings was lost on her. But she could imagine that it would be very tiring on the parents.

Or _parent_ , in this case.

She took a closer look at the children. They were all younger than the girl that had invited them in. If this was her entire family then it was likely that she was the oldest out of all of them. They were sitting around the table and staring at the three heroes who just intruded on their family dinner.

Uraraka flashed a smile of apology and the mother glanced from her to her daughter. She seemed like she wanted to say something when-

“Heroes!” The younger children shouted and immediately ran over. They were jumping up and down next to Midoriya. The girl let go of his arm and went over to the dinner table.

“What’s your quirk! How many bad guys have you fought! What does your costume do!” The twins jumped up and down surrounding Midoriya while he desperately tried to get a hold of the situation. It was clear that Midoriya was not used to dealing with his crowds of adoring fans, which amused Uraraka despite their situation. She watched her friend stammer out the details of his quirk as well as answer the other questions to the best of his ability. The children, to their credit, didn’t seem to mind.

“Wow!” They cooed. “So cool!”

After a while, they got bored of Midoriya’s blustering and moved onto Asui instead, then they went to Uraraka. While this was happening it seemed that the girl from earlier was talking with her mother about something. Uraraka couldn’t make out what she was saying exactly, but she kept on glancing back and forth between the girl and them.

Suddenly, it looked like the mother nodded slightly and stood up. She cleared her throat and called out. “Children, your big sister has important business to discuss with the heroes, so let’s leave them alone for now.”

“Okay...” Slightly dejected, they followed their mother out of the room.

“Um, sorry we’re interrupting...”

“Eh, it’s no big deal. Now, what did you wanna ask about?” The girl dismissed Midoriya’s apology and moved onto the main subject.

“Oh, well recently we got a report that...”

As Midoriya and her talked, Uraraka explored the house. Half listening to the conversation happening around her, she noticed a small shelf next to the wall. She peered inside and saw a bunch of trophies and newspaper cutouts. They detail a certain Akane Owari’s talent in gymnastics.

 _Akane Owari. So that’s her name, huh_. Uraraka closely examined the trophies. Not finding anything out of the ordinary, she moved her attention elsewhere.

She glances at Midoriya and Owari. They’ve moved to the kitchen and Owari was trying to get them to join on their family dinner while Midoriya was adamantly against it. The house was small so they were really only a couple steps away from the living room.

Uraraka continued to let Midoriya handle the questioning and went over to where Asui was.

“What do you think?” She asked.

“They’re cute.”

“I’m not talking about the children. I’m talking about her.” Uraraka looked at the girl. She was currently looking into the pot on the stove while answering Midoriya’s questions. “Akane Owari. She’s a gymnast, apparently. Doesn’t she feel kind of strange?”

“Strange? Strange how?”

“Like, I don’t know. I get the feeling that she’s just sort of... _off_.” Uraraka frowned. “Maybe I’m thinking too much about things.”

“No, I think you’re right. I think she was looking at me strangely. Like she was sizing us up or something.”

“That girl... I wonder.” Uraraka muttered. “What if she’s with Ultimate Despair?”

“I think you’re being paranoid, Ochaco.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Uraraka said, watching as Owari and Midoriya navigated away from the kitchen. The gymnast took a sneaking glance back at the pot as they talked. Uraraka frowned. “Although...”

Silently, Uraraka moved towards the kitchen area while Asui watched her, confused. She glanced at Owari, it didn’t seem like she noticed her yet. Slowly, she reached for the lid. Glancing back, she noticed that Midoriya and Owari were at the shelf that Uraraka had been examining a few moments ago.

Steeling her resolve, she grabbed hold of the lid carefully, taking hold of it in her hand. Slowly, with skilled, deliberate movements, and making sure not to make a single sound, she lifted it and peered inside...

Uraraka suppressed the urge to gasp, teeter, or loosen the grip she had on the lid. Staring back at her in the middle of the pot was unmistakably the head of a small dog.

With the subtlest of movements, she carefully replaced the lid and turned to Asui. She was staring at Uraraka with her usual frog-like expression, head slightly tilted, indicating her confusion. She turned to Midoriya and Owari and was relieved to see that they were still talking. Quietly, she made her way back to Asui before she spoke.

“Um, Deku?” She called out, grabbing his attention. “I just got a call from the Future Foundation. They say we need to return immediately.”

“Huh, what are you talking about, Uraraka?” Midoriya asked, confused. “I have the phone.”

“Um, no, Deku.” Uraraka’s tone grew insistent. “You gave _me_ the phone, _remember_?”

Uraraka saw Midoriya’s hand reach down towards his pocket as understanding filled his eyes. He lightly tapped the phone that was in his pocket and nodded.

“Ah, right. I forgot about that.” He said, then turned to Owari. “We’ll be back later, is that-”

SLAM!

Owari slammed a fist into Midoriya’s face as he turned around. A barrage of punches then lashed out at the boy but he had raised his arms just quick enough for his head and chest to be protected.

“Deku!”

Seeing the trouble that their friend was in, Uraraka and Asui dashed in, on the left and on the right, surrounding Owari from all sides.

Owari stopped her assault on Midoriya’s limbs and moved her attention to the threats that appeared beside her with a smile on her lips. She was lucky that they mentioned their quirks before the fight began when her younger siblings rushed over to meet them. While on the other hand, they had no idea about hers.

Of course, having been hero students of UA, their quirks had been prominently on display during the nationally broadcasted Sports Festival. But Owari, for all the excitement she had shown when watching, had already forgotten each and every one of them so the refresher was very much appreciated.

Owari judged Uraraka’s quirk to be the more dangerous one. If she were weightless, it would be more difficult for her to maneuver around. She launched a quick punch at her stomach that was almost sidestepped. Almost. Owari’s fist grazed Uraraka and she could feel her quirk working to power her up. She flashed another killer smile at the girl and dodged Asui’s attack from behind, turning with a spin kick that connected perfectly with the frog girl’s hip, sending her reeling back while simultaneously knocking her off balance.

It didn’t break. Of course it didn’t, she was still too weak for that. She needed more power, and that meant making good use of her quirk. She launched a wide backhand at Uraraka, one that couldn’t be sidestepped easily. And sure enough, the girl elected to block instead. Owari’s hand connected with Uraraka’s arm, she could feel the power of her hits gradually increasing. Soon, she would be strong enough to end the fight.

Midoriya’s foot came shooting out as her hit against Uraraka landed. Owari quickly repositioned herself with a half step and brought her elbow down onto the boy’s kick. Pain shot through her arm and Owari grimaced. So he was wearing iron boots. Well, whether it was flesh or steel, it was all the same to her quirk.

Owari did note the green sparks shooting off of Midoriya’s body. _Sorta like the gangster_ , she thought, _wonder how they’d match against each other_.

Asui got up and rejoined the fight. The gymnast made a quick leap away from the heroes and got out of their collective attack ranges. They stared at one another for a few moments, none of them daring to take the first step against the other. Although Owari was outnumbered, it wouldn’t be wrong to say the first skirmish had been completely in her favour.

They were cautious, which she hated. It wasn’t a problem for her quirk, but Owari wished they would just come at her already and save her the pain of going after them. She was already imagining her victory.

“Wait until the others hear about this.” She boasted. “Three Future Foundation heroes taken down all by myself.”

“’The others’? You mean other members of Ultimate Despair?” Uraraka asked.

“And we’ll have so much to eat...” Owari stopped to wipe away some drool.

“You mean you’ll get rewarded with food for taking down heroes?” Midoriya asked in an attempt to understand Ultimate Despair’s intrinsic reward system.

“No, that’s wrong. Ultimate Despair isn’t going to give her any food.” Uraraka objected. She stared hard at Owari’s face. “You’ve been the one stealing people’s pets. You’ve been butchering them, feeding them to your family. Don’t try to hide it, I saw what was in that pot earlier.”

“What!”

“That’s...!”

Despite their precarious position, both Asui and Midoriya turned to glance at the large, steel pot as if taking another look would suddenly reveal its secrets to them. It wouldn’t, of course, unless one of the quirks Midoriya was going to develop was X-ray vision. Feeling just the slightest bit foolish, they both returned their attention back to the threat at hand.

Owari smiled, baring her teeth and looking directly at Uraraka. She seemed almost delighted for Uraraka to explain herself. “Go on...”

“Which means the ‘food’ that Owari’s talking about is...” Uraraka gulped. “Is us.”

Midoriya and Asui paled as understanding crept up behind them and clobbered them with a bat.

“I’ve always wondered how someone with a mutant quirk tastes.” Owari said as dark, red swirls appeared in her eyes, mixing with her bright, red irises. “I wonder if there’s a difference. I’ll have to ask the others about it afterwards.”

“Ask...?” Though his mind was on the battle, Midoriya’s mind caught onto a weird phrase Owari used, like a piece of driftwood getting snagged by a rock as it flowed downstream. But before Midoriya could think too deeply on the meaning behind her words, Uraraka spoke up.

“You’re... horrible! How can you even think to do something like that?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don’t look at me like that.” Owari held out her hands as her eyes widened in shock. “My family doesn’t get a lot of income. I’m just making sure they don’t starve.”

“That’s no excuse!” Uraraka shouted. “I also know what it’s like not to have a lot of money. Sometimes I’ll skip meals just to save a few yen. But you don’t have to do something so desperate just to-”

“Shut up!” Owari yelled and took a single step forward, the swirls in her eyes growing deeper. The heroes tensed but didn’t move back. “Do you have any younger siblings? Any other brothers or sisters?”

“I, um...”

“Of course not. You probably only ever knew how to rely on your parents.”

“No, well I...”

“You don’t have any idea how it feels to be the oldest sibling! What it feels to be relied upon to by an entire family!” Owari’s presence grew stronger as she shouted her inner feelings. The swirls in her eyes grew even darker.

The heroes were silent, until...

“Uraraka may not know what that’s like.” Asui spoke up. “But I do.”

Owari whipped her head over to look at the girl. Asui continued, undaunted by the power of the gymnast’s glare. She narrowed her eyes as they stared at one another. “I guess we’re not as destitute but... I feel that’s not the source of your despair, is it? I had been wondering why Ultimate Despair would come to a place like this when it had been ignored for so long but I realize now.

It’s for your family, isn’t it?”

Owari looked at Asui with an odd expression. Midoriya and Uraraka took their eyes off Owari for a moment to look at Asui as she was talking. They didn’t understand what she was saying. Did a member of Ultimate Despair really come to a place like this because they were worried about their family? And if they did, why was she doing all these horrible things?

Asui narrowed her eyes. “The feelings of wanting to protect your family. That’s what drove you to despair, isn’t it?”

Owari tilted her head downwards and seemed to start to shake. “You don’t understand a thing...”

“I have younger siblings too. I care for them, cook for them, I’m the person they run to when they get into trouble.” Asui said. “So I understand your feelings just a bit. But let me tell you, if you keep associating yourself with Ultimate Despair... If you keep doing what you’re doing now...

You’ll be a terrible role model for them.”

“Grah!” Owari shouted. Her legs seemed to weaken as she tried to steady herself. She looked up at the heroes with a pained expression on her face. Midoriya and the others were too confused to try anything.

“You’re wrong... You don’t understand...” Owari mumbled as she tried to stand up. “Despair! Despair is the only thing you can trust in this world! Heroes like you will never understand.

So just... shut up already!” Saying this, Owari kicked off of the ground with the legs of the Ultimate Gymnast and leaped to Asui. Twisting in midair, she lands a solid punch on her arm, easily stronger than the ones she had been throwing out before.

“Tsu- I mean, Froppy!” Midoriya cried out and launched a Shoot Style kick at Owari’s stomach. The attack connected and Midoriya succeeded not only in driving Owari back a few steps, but also the air out of her lungs. Behind them, Uraraka was checking up on Asui’s injury but Midoriya was focused on something else.

“You’re so thin...” Midoriya noted how Owari’s body felt under his kick. His mind raced, trying to connect the information in his mind. “Just earlier, when discussing the meat of humans with mutant quirks, you said that you’ll ask how it tastes. But that means that you’re not going to try any yourself...

You’re not eating, are you?”

“...Haah?” Owari sucked in a breath and stared up at him.

_Despair keeps me from feeling hungry ever again!_

Midoriya remembered what that man had said, and he finally understood. “Owari... how long has it been since your last meal?”

“Huh?” Owari scrunched up her face, as if she didn’t understand why Midoriya would suddenly ask a question like that. “Not quite a year, I guess... maybe around nine months?”

Something felt heavy in Midoriya’s stomach. “I knew it.” He said in a quiet voice. “You’ve been starving yourself.”

“Huh? Well, what’s wrong with that?” Owari asked flippantly. “If I eat less then that means there’s more for everyone else, right?”

“No, but... you’ll die” Midoriya said what he thought was an obvious statement and an objective truth.

“Ugh, you sound like my mom.” Owari, not caring, rolled her eyes and rushed at Midoriya, unleashing another barrage of punches. Midoriya raised his arms to block them but he could feel that the blows were even stronger than before. A warning flashed in his mind, reminding him the delicate state his arms are in. Midoriya attempted to think of a way to stop Owari, but she seemed to be getting faster and stronger with every punch.

Once she felt that it was enough, Owari reeled back her arm and prepared for a final attack. Midoriya looked from his defensive stance at the girl. He knew that her next punch would be brutal, that he wouldn’t be able to take it head on. His mind raced with options to protect himself. Could he block it with his boots, or send One for All into his legs and sidestep it?

“Deku!” Uraraka shouted as she suddenly tackled Midoriya from behind, moving him out of the way of danger. Owari’s fist sailed through the space where Midoriya’s head had just been with blazing speed. The air itself distorted as the heroes all felt the wind that was generated by her empty punch. A punch that was strong enough to create shockwaves in the air, just like All-Might. Midoriya gulped. If he let that hit connect, he would’ve been done for!

“Damnit!” Owari exclaimed and immediately turned her attention to Uraraka. Eyes burning with anger and before any of them could react, Owari launched a punch directly at Uraraka’s head.

POW! Uraraka sailed backwards through the air and landed sprawled out on the floor.

“Uraraka!” Midoriya cried, deeply worried for his friend. Owari’s power was incredible. To Midoriya, the punch that he had just avoided was comparable to One for All at 100% output. He grimly thought of the possibility of a fractured skull or a broken jaw as he rushed over.

Then, Uraraka got up as if nothing had happened. She was rubbing her cheek where she had been hit, but it didn’t look like she had been grievously injured. “I figured out her quirk!” She shouted at Midoriya and Asui.

“It’s Combo! The more successful attacks she gets off the more powerful she gets!” Uraraka explained. “I wasn’t sure if missing would reset it so I took a chance. I jumped in the direction of her punch when she hit me, but it seems that was unnecessary. Guys, whatever you do, don’t get hit!”

“Damn you!” Owari shouted. It seemed that Uraraka had hit the nail right on the head. The Ultimate Despair's quirk had been figured out.

"Great job, Uraraka!" Midoriya complimented.

"So we just need to reset her every once in a while?" Asui asked. "Piece of cake."

The rest of the fight proceeded much more smoothly. Asui started by restraining one of Owari’s arms with her tongue. Midoriya closed the distance while Uraraka provided long-range support with various objects around the house.

The strategy was clear now. Every so often Owari would land a few attacks due to her speed and agility, so the heroes would make sure to dodge an incoming hit to reset the built up power of her quirk. The fight progressed rapidly and eventually Owari was backed into a corner.

“Damnit...” Owari recognized her defeat. Her eyes began to cloud with iconic swirls signifying the feeling of despair that consumed her. They were ready to deal the final blow when...

* * *

Owari’s mother flinched every time the walls shook. Their house wasn’t very sturdy, and the foundation wasn’t built properly, so the vibrations from the other room could easily reach here. She couldn’t hear anything of what they were discussing, but she could probably guess the gist of it.

Even out here, where the Monokuma were rarely seen, she heard of the term “Ultimate Despair.” The group that ended the world, that was all she knew. They didn’t have a lot of information as to what kind of group they were, who was a part of it, and how strong each individual member was.

But she did understand some things.

She knew something was off with Akane when she returned. She was her mother, after all. She knew her better than anyone.

However, she didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t want to believe that her daughter had changed. She didn’t want to believe that Akane had any hand in causing the collapse of society itself.

It had been easy to ignore at first. Akane had acted as she always had before she left, a caring big sister to her younger half-siblings and a supportive and reliable daughter to her mother. It wasn’t odd that her eyes were red instead of gray now. It wasn’t odd how she never ate anything. Perhaps she was just eating elsewhere, out of sight, she had thought.

It took just a single, miscalculated comment about the price inflation due to the Tragedy to change all of that.

No, it probably wasn’t her fault. Akane would’ve noticed eventually and came to the same conclusion that she did already. It just felt better to blame herself rather than anyone else.

She knew where Akane had been getting the “meat” for their meals. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. She tried to confront her about it, perhaps talk her out of it. But Akane just acted like she had no idea what she was talking about.

Then, heroes had shown up to investigate and Akane had told her to leave them alone with her. She was worried for what she had planned to do but she was also worried for her daughter.

They were heroes, and Akane was... she was...

If the heroes were fighting against her daughter, then what did that make her?

Quelling the despair in her heart, she quietly opened the door to the other room.

* * *

“Please stop it!” A sudden voice came from behind them. Midoriya felt a push on his back and tried to steady himself while the others turned to look at the sudden attacker.

It was Owari’s mother. With tears running down her face, she snuck up on them and attached herself to Midoriya. Asui and Uraraka turned as Midoriya attempted to regain his balance.

They took their eyes off Owari for the slightest of moments and when they looked back, she was gone. With the dexterity worthy of an Ultimate, she maneuvered to the front door and was ready to leave. Wordlessly, she shot one last glare at the heroes before she hurried out. Uraraka ran to the door and looked around. Owari had already disappeared.

Feelings of anger and disappointment washed over them as Midoriya pushed the woman off his back and turned to her.

“Why?!” He shouted. “Why would you do that? You just let her escape! She was an Ultimate Despair! A villain!” Midoriya directed his frustrations at the woman, but quickly felt embarrassment and regret well up from inside of him.

Owari’s mother, wiping away her tears, couldn’t manage to look Midoriya in the eye. In the softest voice she whispered. “She’s my daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, Midoriya’s first enemy is Akane Owari, the Ultimate Gymnast. Did anyone guess right?


	6. Chapter 6

People loved heroes, that was a common sentiment in this world. People trusted heroes, people respected heroes. Midoriya had been born into a world that readily accepted quirks and pro heroes, and he eagerly embraced it.

Heroes aided law enforcement, yes. But they were also celebrities. They were idolized and adored by the general public. There were popularity contests about heroes, quizzes about them, and some even had badly written sitcoms.

Midoriya could still remember the look on his mother’s face when he told her that he got accepted to UA. Her eyes swelled with pride as she wrapped him tight around her arms. She was crying, which made it hard for her to tell him just how happy she was with coherent sounding noises. But that didn’t bother Midoriya, he was crying too.

Midoriya wasn’t sure if anyone’s parents would have reacted differently. Heroes were an idolized profession before the Tragedy. The idea of one’s child becoming a hero to protect civilians from the forces of evil had been a source of great pride for all parents.

But what about villains?

Midoriya had fought his fair share of villains as he studied to become a hero. Stain, Muscular, and Overhaul came to mind. But never once did he stop to consider how those villains’ parents or their family might have felt.

Until now that is.

After staggering him, Owari’s mother had collapsed onto the floor in a sobbing mess. The heroes’ anger drained almost immediately upon seeing this and their earlier tension dissolved in an instant.

“Please don’t hurt... my daughter anymore... I’m sorry... ” She said while wiping the tears from her face.

Midoriya felt uneasiness and shame well up inside of him. Uraraka and Asui looked at one another, then at Midoriya. They were all as hesitant as he was, none of them had been prepared to deal with something like this.

Carefully, Midoriya went towards her.

“Um, hey... are you... alright?” Midoriya’s inched towards where Owari’s mother was kneeling. He wanted to tell her that it’ll be alright, that everything will be okay just like All-Might can. Cheer her up like the hero he was meant to be. But he couldn’t. She wasn’t in life-threatening danger or mortal peril, and it feels that smiling in this situation will just make everything worse. Midoriya was at a complete loss for words.

Her daughter was a villain. And not just any villain, she was a member of Ultimate Despair, the group that ended the world. That in and of itself would be a pretty big blow to any parent. But Midoriya also knew that if they ever find her again, then there would likely be another fight. They would have to place her under arrest, or worse...

And this woman, this mother, she knew that. Or at the very least, suspected that something like this would have eventually had to happen in the back of her mind. It was certain that she had been dreading it for a long time. It didn’t feel right to say anything to her now.

A tiny noise was heard, and Midoriya looked back at where Owari’s mother had come from. There were a few heads peeking out from behind the doorway. Midoriya felt something catch in his throat. In the heat of the battle, he had almost forgotten Owari’s younger siblings. How would they react to all of this? Did they even know what was going on out here?

Behind them, a boy walked out. He seemed just a bit younger than her sister. He turned to his brothers and sisters and told them to stay inside. Then he walked to where the heroes and his mother was.

Ignoring the three of them, he placed a hand on her shoulder while saying “it’s alright, it’s alright.” to her over and over again. With a polite but sad smile, he looked up. “Do you guys think you could leave us alone for a bit?” He asked.

Feeling embarrassed, the heroes obliged and quickly left the house.

* * *

After a few minutes of waiting, the boy came out of the house. He smiled at the heroes and closed the door behind him. There was some warmth in his smile, as if he were still trying to be hospitable to the people who beat up his older sister and caused his mother to break down crying.

In many ways, he resembled Akane. He had the same tanned skin and messy brown hair, but that was where the similarities ended. Unlike Akane, he wore glasses. They were thin and rectangular, not so unlike the ones that Iida wore. Though this pair’s rims weren’t as thick. Behind them were tired gray eyes that darted between the three heroes before settling on Midoriya, who was closest.

“Sorry about that.” He said. They wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to apologize but remained respectfully silent. “So... what happened between you guys and big sis?”

Midoriya looked to his companions. From meaningful looks and silent glances, they seemed to agree that he should be the one to talk with the boy.

“She attacked us.” Midoriya said with some deliberation. There wasn’t really any gentler way of putting it, so Midoriya opted to go for the direct approach.

“I see.”

“We... we think that she may be working with Ultimate Despair.”

The boy sighed, his shoulders drooped. Disappointment was etched clearly on his face. “I thought that might have been the case.”

“You knew?” Uraraka raised an eyebrow.

“I... had my suspicions.” The boy glanced towards the house. “I think Mom knew as well, she just didn’t want to believe it.”

“Um...” Midoriya turned to the house as well, then back at the boy. “How is she, by the way?” Since Midoriya was quite close with his mother, he felt quite empathetic to the family, the boy in particular.

“She’ll be alright, she’s strong.” He smiled, clearly happy that Midoriya was showing concern.

The boy introduced himself as Junpei Owari. He explained how their mother had gone through several marriages. Akane was his half-sister, and so was every other sibling he had. Apparently, none of his mother’s husbands ever stay for long.

“She’s not a bad woman. But she does tend to fall in love too easily.” Junpei shrugged despite himself. “Our family is usually in a pretty precarious situation financially, due to having so many people and all. Big sis used to do these part-time jobs but she eventually discovered her talent as a gymnast. She won a bunch of competitions and eventually got scouted to some big high school. We were all so happy for her. Then, the Tragedy happened and we were all worried until she came back and well… you see how that turned out.”

“When did your sister come back?” Asui asked.

“Around a month ago. I’m pretty sure only Mom and I felt anything strange from her. But we never confronted her about it.”

“Has she... hurt any of you?” Uraraka asked and Junpei shook his head.

“She acted like she always did. Usually. Though sometimes when she thinks no one’s looking, I think I can see signs of her being off.”

“I’m really sorry.” Asui said. “That must have been tough for you to deal with.”

“Thanks. That means a lot.” Junpei’s mouth twisted. “What’s going to happen to us now?”

“You... your family should probably be placed under Future Foundation protection.” Midoriya explained. “Even though she’s escaped now, there’s a chance that Akane might come back. If that happens, you guys might be in danger.”

Junpei looked back at the house before nodding. “Right, that makes sense.” He turned towards them with a serious expression. “Um, hey, you guys are heroes, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Midoriya answered without hesitation.

“Then could I ask you to do something?” Junpei had a determined look in his eyes. “I want you to find out what happened to my sister.”

“What do you mean, ‘what happened’?” Midoriya asked, full certain that he understood what Junpei was asking, but wanted to confirm it with the boy himself.

Junpei’s hands clenched into fists while his face contorted with grief and pain. “I mean... find out what happened that turned her into an Ultimate Despair! Big sis isn’t like that. She would never...” He looked up at the heroes with tear-filled eyes. “I refuse to believe that she’s not being controlled or brainwashed or something. I just can’t accept it! So please... I just want to know what happened...”

“I...” Midoriya was about to speak but wasn’t able to force any words to come out. What Junpei was asking for, he didn’t know if it was possible. Find out the reason that Akane Owari joined Ultimate Despair? It wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand Junpei’s request, if someone he cared about became a villain, of course he’d want to know what caused it. But that didn’t mean that he could make such a promise to him.

Midoriya stared into Junpei’s tear-stained eyes. They weren’t filled with hope, but it wasn’t despair either. It was more like... resignation.

“I’m sorry.” Junpei said. Although it had felt like a long time for Midoriya, barely a few seconds had passed in reality. “That was selfish of me. I should’ve known better than to ask something like that from you guys. I’m sure you’re all very busy with hero stuff.”

Junpei looked back at the house. “I’ll go tell everyone the news. Maybe pack their stuff or something.” He turned back to the heroes. “Um, thanks, I guess. For coming.”

Midoriya and the others watched the boy walk back to his home and silently waited for their transportation to arrive.

* * *

Midoriya, Uraraka, and Asui had returned to the Future Foundation with Owari’s family in tow. Some of the younger siblings wondered where they were going, where their older sister was, and why they had to leave the home they lived in for their entire lives, Junpei and his mother did their best to distract and placate them.

Everyone was in a panic when they arrived. Midoriya, not Uraraka, had been in charge of communication, and he had already let Aizawa know that they encountered another Ultimate Despair, Akane Owari, and that they were bringing back her family for their protection.

Once they arrived, they were all taken to the medical bay. While the heroes hadn’t received any injuries that were too major, no broken bones or fractures or anything like that, they were still bruised and battered and had to be healed by Recovery Girl’s quirk. Owari’s family, on the other hand, was given a quick checkup for any possible viruses or diseases they may have contracted and were placed under quarantine by Munakata.

“And so, what happened next? Spare no detail in your account.” Munakata asked Midoriya carefully, his steely eyes watching the boy like a hawk.

Midoriya, on the other hand, didn’t feel any pressure. Right now, he was sitting across from Munakata in his office. After being healed up, Munakata had called them into his office to discuss their latest encounter with Ultimate Despair.

Midoriya could easily recall what happened since the action was still fresh in his mind. Midoriya went through the events that occurred while Munakata listened with rapt attention. Once he was done, the Future Foundation chairman began to ask him questions.

“You mentioned that this girl… ‘Owari.’ You said that she was in high school.” Munakata repeated Midoriya’s words and he nodded. “Do you know which school she attended?”

“No, she never mentioned that.” Midoriya said. “Um, if I may ask why-“

“An investigation could prove useful.” Munakata interrupted quickly. “But it is not important if we are unable to ascertain that information.”

Midoriya nodded in understanding. Munakata asked him a couple more questions about Owari and Midoriya answered them the best he could. Before long, he was dismissed.

* * *

“Alright, that’s everything for today.” Present Mic cheerfully announced as he wiped off the blackboard. “Remember, we have a test next week on syntax so make sure you’re studying!”

The students groaned as they exited the classroom. Between the regular classes in the morning, and the patrols against Ultimate Despair in the afternoon, the tonal whiplash of their daily activities affected them greatly. The life of action and excitement from being a hero was stymied by the fact that they were technically still students. As heroes, they would have put all this coursework and studying behind them as they focused on their full-time jobs as heroes. But because of the Tragedy, these hero students were forced into hero work early while they were also made to keep up with their schoolwork.

“Why do we even need English anyway?” Uraraka asked as she, Asui, and Midoriya packed their things and got ready for lunch. “All the airports were destroyed so it’s not like we’ll be able to leave the country.”

“They can still be fixed.” Asui pointed out. “When the Tragedy is over maybe we’ll be able to go on a vacation some place out of the country. Then you’ll be glad that you know English.”

“I guess… But that still doesn’t explain why we need a test every other week.”

Around a week has passed since Midoriya, Uraraka, and Asui had encountered Akane Owari and took her family back to the Future Foundation. In that week, nothing of note had happened. Midoriya went to classes and patrols as usual, while Bakugou continued his research into Izuru Kamukura and the Kamukura Project.

“Well, nevermind that for now. Let’s talk about our assignments for today.” Asui decided to change the subject. “I’m being sent to investigate a town. Apparently, a few started behaving really strangely.”

“Strange? Strange how?” Uraraka asked.

“A bunch of people there all of a sudden started acting happier and more energetic. Some of the other residents thought that was strange, so they reported it to the Future Foundation.”

“I wish I could be on some special assignment.” Uraraka complained. “I just have my regular patrol route with Deku today.”

“You should be careful.” Asui looked thoughtful. “Haven’t the two of you already encountered two members of Ultimate Despair already? They always seem to show up around you two for some reason. Maybe you two are cursed.”

“ _Ha ha_.” Uraraka laughed sarcastically. “We most definitely have not been cursed. Tell her, Deku.”

“… Huh?” Midoriya looked up suddenly and around at his surroundings. He blinked a few times. “What are we talking about?”

“I thought you had been quiet for a while.” Asui tilted her head. “What’s wrong Midoriya? Is there something on your mind?”

“Yeah, you usually mutter a lot when you’re thinking really hard about something, so you being all silent like this feels different.” Uraraka commented.

“Huh? O-oh yeah, it’s nothing. I’m perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about.” Midoriya insisted. He looked around, it seemed he followed Uraraka and Asui without noticing and was already standing in the hallway. Was he really so distracted?

“Are you sure? If something’s the matter, you can talk to us about it.”

“Thanks.” Midoriya said, smiling. “But really, I’ll be fine. I just need to… yeah, I won’t be able to eat lunch with you today. Sorry, but I already made plans.” Midoriya excused himself and walked away. He moved in the direction of the Future Foundation meeting rooms, but not before grabbing the food he already prepared from his locker. Once inside, he checked the time. Just a few minutes before they were scheduled to meet. Midoriya nodded to himself and began to eat while waiting.

* * *

Tenya Iida checked his phone as he left the classroom. He frowned at the message he had received, then hid his reaction and continued normally. After saying goodbye to a few of his classmates, he met up with Shouto Todoroki, his friend.

“Midoriya’s message, did you get it too?” Iida asked when he was sure that no one else was close enough to overhear.

Todoroki nodded. “I did. Do you think what he wants to talk about is…?”

“Let’s not discuss it here.” Iida said and Todoroki nodded in agreement.

To Iida and Todoroki, there could be only one reason that Midoriya called the two of them specifically to discuss something. It was a reason that they couldn’t talk about out loud. Despite the shift in society’s perception and general reaction towards heroes, they still decided to keep it a secret.

The fact that the three of them took down the Hero Killer.

Some time ago, Iida learned that his older brother, Tensei, had been injured heavily at the hands of the Hero Killer. Iida chose to track down the Hero Killer himself and bring him to justice. Due to the disparity between their relative ability, this almost got him killed, but luckily, Midoriya and Todoroki had been there to save his life. Together, the three of them took down the Hero Killer, Stain, and put an end to his Purge.

No one besides the three of them knew this, however, because of a deal made with the authorities. Iida, Midoriya, and Todoroki had broken the law by using their quirks when they weren’t pro heroes yet, they didn’t even have provisional licenses. So, in order to avoid punishment, the three of them chose to stay quiet and say that Endeavour had been the one to arrest the Hero Killer and not them.

Therefore, in Todoroki and Iida’s mind, the only reason that Midoriya could have for calling the three of them specifically was to discuss the Hero Killer incident that they had been sworn to secrecy about.

Iida entered the meeting room slowly, with Todoroki following behind him. Midoriya was already there, waiting for them.

“Midoriya, are you feeling alright after your battle with Ultimate Despair?” Iida and Todoroki both heard what happened to Midoriya’s team during their mission several days ago. The entire class were told the details of the encounter soon after.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Though my costume got damaged pretty badly.” Midoriya said casually. “Um, do you know why I called the two of you here?”

“It’s to do with the Hero Killer, right?” Todoroki ventured a guess and the temperature of the room dropped.

The long silence followed was broken by Midoriya. “Well, not exactly.” He said while rubbing the back of his head. To the confused looks on his friends’ faces, he continued. “Well, this definitely does have something to do with _that night_. But I wanted to talk about Iida rather than Stain.”

“About me?” Iida’s eyes widened and he pointed to himself with his finger.

“Did something happen when you encountered that Ultimate Despair?” Todoroki thought that there had to be a reason that Midoriya was calling them in to discuss the Hero Killer incident now of all times. He thought that it might have something to do with what happened to him recently.

Not long after the news of them encountering another member of Ultimate Despair spread through the foundation, Munakata briefed the hero students on the Ultimate Despair that they had fought with. Todoroki felt that there were some things off about Munakata’s explanation, but he wasn’t sure what. The way he described her as a high school girl who joined Ultimate Despair for reasons unknown…

Well, Todoroki reasoned, it was obvious that the Future Foundation wouldn’t have all sorts of pertinent information on a Despair that they only met for the first time yesterday. But it honestly felt like Munakata wasn’t telling them all they knew. 

“Yeah, you could say that.” Midoriya said. “I was reminded of what Iida said after the fight when we were all in the hospital.”

“Hm? What do you mean?” Iida asked.

Todoroki nodded in understanding. “You’re talking about what Iida said had happened to him, right? And you thought it was similar to what happened with that girl.”

“What are you talking about…?” Iida asked again.

“That’s right.” Midoriya confirmed. “From what Owari and her family told me of her actions, they seem very similar to what Iida did around the time of the Hero Killer incident.”

“Just hold on a minute!” Iida raised his voice and the other two turned towards him.

“Is something the matter?” Todoroki asked.

“Well, I-I’m not quite sure what you two are talking about all of a sudden.” Iida explained, drawing looks of confusion from his friends. “All that happened after we woke up in the hospital was us talking with the chief of police and our internship supervisors, right? What do you mean by similar to that girl?”

Hearing this, Todoroki and Midoriya quickly glanced at one another, a worried look on both their faces. Todoroki spoke first. “Not at all. We were in the hospital for quite some time, and the three of were talking for most of it.”

“That’s right.” Midoriya added. “Iida, are you saying that you don’t remember any of that?”

“I…” Iida looked taken aback. His eyes widened and his body sagged. “No, I… I can’t seem to recall something like that happening. Now that you mention it, I can’t even remember when we were discharged either.”

“Perhaps…” Todoroki said thoughtfully. “Perhaps you’ve repressed the memories associated with that event?”

“I suppose that is a possibility.” Iida admitted. “I had always thought that I could remember everything of what happened that event because of what it meant to me. But it appears that I was wrong.”

“That is worrying… Perhaps you should talk with Gekkogahara about it.” Todoroki suggested. “She’s a therapist so she’ll likely keep everything confidential.”

“I guess that could be a good idea…” Iida pondered the notion. He had thought that he was prepared for whatever Midoriya was going to talk to them about, but this surprised him. They hadn’t even gotten to the main topic yet and Iida could sense his feelings of anger, shame, and guilt washing over him like a bucket of cold water dumped on his head.

“So, Iida, what exactly _do_ you remember of the incident? Maybe we should start from there.” Midoriya asked.

“Well…” Iida began. “I remember getting the call from my parents telling me that Tensei was attacked. I remember picking Manual’s hero agency because it was situated in Hosu and that was where the Hero Killer was spotted last. I also remember finding the Hero Killer and getting rescued by the two of you.

That’s pretty much it, I’m afraid.”

“So you really don’t remember what you told us at the hospital?” Midoriya asked once again to confirm and Iida nodded.

“Alright, then let’s go over that first.” Midoriya said.

Iida listened to Midoriya’s explanation with rapt attention and slowly understood why he was being compared to Akane Owari, the Ultimate Despair that Midoriya had encountered. According to him, Iida had starved himself to the point of collapsing, didn’t sleep, and felt completely energized despite all that. Compared to what Munakata had told them about Owari, Iida had to admit, his situation was bizarrely similar.

“The first Ultimate Despair that I fought against, Drifter, had said something about not needing to feel hungry ever again.” Midoriya mentioned. “At first I thought that it meant that he was getting food after joining with Ultimate Despair, but now I’m starting to think that’s not the case.”

“You think he was starving himself as well?” Todoroki asked. “Could we confirm with him if that’s true? I can’t imagine he’d lie but well, he is still Despair.”

“That man, Juzo Sakakura, is in charge of the prisoners, right?” Iida said. “You’d have to ask him for permission to interrogate the captives.”

“Sakakura, huh…?” Midoriya felt a chill run down his spine. Both Todoroki and Iida agreed with Midoriya’s silent assessment. Sakakura was, for lack of a better word, unapproachable. His intimidating glare and general attitude didn’t help matters as no student seemed to be willing to even get near him. The idea of asking Sakakura for a favour made their hairs stand up due to nervousness.

“Maybe… we don’t have to do that.” Midoriya said and the others agreed with him.

“In any case, what does all this mean? Is there a tangible connection between what happened to Iida and Ultimate Despair?” Todoroki asked.

“I’m getting to that.” Midoriya promised. “But there’s still one more important aspect of Ultimate Despair. Namely, their eyes.”

“You’re talking about how all the members of Ultimate Despair seem to have red eyes, right?” Iida asked. “But we know that just having red eyes doesn’t mean anything. Bakugou, Tokoyami, and Kirishima all have red eyes.”

“And Kamukura, he had red eyes too.” Todoroki added then looked to Midoriya. He knew that Midoriya and Kamukura had been quite close before the Tragedy. However, after Munakata all but accusing Kamukura of working with Ultimate Despair and helping to start the Tragedy, Todoroki wondered what Midoriya’s reaction would be.

Midoriya simply nodded in agreement. “Right, Kamukura as well.” He continued. “But Todoroki, you understand what I’m talking about, right?”

“I think so. You’re talking about Iida’s eyes, aren’t you?”

“My eyes? What about them?” Iida wondered.

“Ah, that’s right, you don’t remember, do you?” Midoriya recalled their earlier conversation. “Well to put it simply, when we found you fighting against Stain, your eyes were red.”

“W-what?!” Iida’s eyebrows shot up. He looked over at Todoroki who nodded.

“That’s right. Though, since we were fighting Stain at the time, I didn’t comment on it. And later, after we were taken to the hospital, they changed back to their regular colour. We talked about it then, but I suppose you have no memory of that.” Todoroki turned to Midoriya and asked. “Do you think it means something?”

“Owari’s family all had grey eyes when I saw them, except for Akane herself. Her eyes were red.” Midoriya stated. “Now, I know that in and of itself doesn’t really mean much considering the existence of recessive and dominant genes and such. But considering Iida’s situation I think there’s a more plausible explanation for this. I think that simply being in despair can cause physical changes in people’s bodies.”

Todoroki and Iida were silent as they waited for Midoriya to continue.

“I mean, think about it. They say that every member of Ultimate Despair that has been encountered have greater strength and speed than regular humans would have, even when their quirk does nothing to affect those stats. And if we consider the other points too, it makes sense that being in despair is what caused these changes.”

“I suppose… but what does that have to do with us?” Todoroki asked after pondering Midoriya’s words. “I mean, even if Iida was in despair as well, only us three knew about it since Iida came out of it…” Todoroki’s eyes widened as realized something. “Wait, so the reason that you called us here…?”

“That’s right.” Midoriya said with a serious expression on his face. “Because we saved Iida from despair, I wanted to see if it’s possible to save others as well. That’s the reason that I called you two here specifically. Because we’re the only ones who has witnessed someone breaking out of despair.”

“If it’s possible…” Todoroki muttered as he thought. “Midoriya, why did you start thinking about this all of a sudden? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good idea. But I’m curious.”

“Well…” Midoriya thought back to the conversation he had with Junpei after his fight with Akane ended. Although he had retracted his request, he was sure that the boy still wanted to find out what happened to his sister. From looking at him, Midoriya was sure that the boy was telling the truth and that he really couldn’t understand what happened to his sister.

“I just… I was thinking about it, after meeting Owari.” That was all Midoriya said in response to Todoroki’s question.

“I’m sorry I won’t be of much help.” Iida said regretfully. “Especially with me not remembering everything that happened.”

“No, it’s fine, Iida. Really.” Midoriya assured his friend. “Really, I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t be asking this of you after what you went through.”

“No, it’s okay.” Iida said. “What did you want to ask of me?”

“Well, do you know when exactly you started falling into despair?”

Iida looked pensive. He frowned as he searched what memories he did have of the event in question. “I think it was… yes, it was after I left the hospital. It should be around that time.”

“Should?” Todoroki repeated.

“Yes, I’m certain it wasn’t any time before that.” Iida nodded. “I remember when I was at the Sports Festival and I received a call from my family. I was rushed to the hospital, worried and grief stricken. When I arrived and saw my brother on the hospital bed, all injured and broken, I felt utterly devastated. After that… I can’t really remember much.”

“I… I see.” Midoriya said. “Then do you remember when you fell out of despair? If we can find that, then we might know how to help the members of Ultimate Despair.”

“I… yes, that I remember clearly.” Iida said confidently.

“Oh?” Midoriya and Todoroki both sat up a little straighter as they waited for Iida to explain.

“Yes. It was the moment that Stain’s quirk wore off on me. Either that, or it was because I found myself again that helped me push through his quirk. In any case, I knew that was when it happened.” Iida said with a slight smile on his face. “Before that moment I felt nothing but despair, but you two reminded me of what it meant to be a hero. I could feel something within my body change in that moment, and so I stood up once more.”

“What it means to be a hero…” Todoroki pondered Iida’s words. “I think it’s safe to say that won’t work on everyone.”

“Drifter felt that the world was unfair because it would pass him by while leaving him to die. Owari was in despair because of her family, it seems.” Midoriya recounted. “While Iida’s case was because of his brother. I think each person has their own reason for falling to despair, that also means that each person will be cured differently.”

“If it’s even possible.” Todoroki added.

“Yeah, there’s always the chance that I’m totally wrong and it’s impossible to help them.” Midoriya frowned. “But even so…”

“If we can break people out of despair, then we’ll have made a big discovery.”

* * *

After their discussion had wrapped up, they each went about their separate ways as their lunch period was nearly over. Todoroki was the last person to leave the room. He stepped out into the hallway with his head clouded in thoughts.

Though he had never encountered an Ultimate Despair during his patrols, Todoroki was thinking intently about Midoriya’s words. Could anyone fall into despair? Can just anyone help them out of it, or do they have to be someone close to the person in question. Could even he fall into despair? Todoroki liked to think that it wouldn’t be possible, but-

“So there you were. I was looking for you for quite some time.”

A voice came from behind Todoroki, interrupting his thoughts. From the tone and obvious displeasure it was clear that it wasn’t some admirer that had been looking for him. He didn’t turn around.

“Were you eating here? It’s kind of a weird place to be having lunch.”

Todoroki gathered his strength and turned around, looking the speaker directly in the eye. “Did you need something?”

“No, not particularly. I was just wondering if you wanted to eat lunch together.” Stated Endeavour, the previous number one hero of Japan.

Not that he was ever _not_ the number one hero after All-Might retired. Since the time when Hero Billboard JP announced his rank and the world’s manic descent into chaos, there had never really been a good time for them to update the rankings. And that’s also not to say that Endeavour wasn’t still the number one hero in Japan. It’s just that the world cares slightly less about hero rankings now that the Tragedy is the only thing occupying their minds.

“Well, I’ve already eaten.”

“Yes, I gathered as much.”

Things weren’t great between Shouto Todoroki and his father. Although they had started to patch things up, the wake of the Tragedy threw all that off course and their relationship had returned to how it had always been. Tenuous at best.

“You’ll have to excuse me.” Todoroki said as he turned to leave but stopped short of taking a step. He looked back over his shoulder at Endeavour.

_Ultimate Despair… they were all driven by an obsession. If anyone can fall into despair, then…_

Endeavour noticed his son staring at him and raised his eyebrows subconsciously. This single movement was enough to snap Todoroki out of his thoughts a second time. He scoffed softly and walked away, shaking his head to himself.

_As if the world could be that convenient._

* * *

“It seems that another Ultimate Despair was found.” Munakata said to Yukizome. They were in her office. Munakata sat across from his friend as she looked at him with a forlorn expression.

“Who was it?” She asked.

“Their name. It was…” Munakata told Yukizome the name that he received. She looked away, her expression cloudy.

“I see.” She said after a while.

“After that Owari girl, this now makes two…” Munakata muttered. In a clearer voice, he spoke. “But that doesn’t mean that all of them are involved-“

“No.” Yukizome stopped Munakata with a single whispered word. “Don’t do it. Don’t give me that hope.”

They stayed in silence for a while before Munakata spoke again. “Right now, there’s no evidence that they were ever affiliated with Hope’s Peak Academy. You don’t have to worry-“

“That’s not what I am worried about, Kyosuke. You know that.” Yukizome said forcefully. “Surely, you understand that.”

Munakata looked down, looking apologetic. “I do. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Yukizome smiled sadly. “This is my failure, after all. You don’t have to get yourself involved.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um. Life has been hectic, couldn’t write as often as I’d like. That and this was also a hard chapter to plan out. I expect more delays in the future. Sorry about that.
> 
> Next chapter: The second Ultimate Despair is found. Make your predictions now.


	7. Chapter 7

Waking up in the morning was an invigorating feeling. The sunlight peeking through the shutters, the quiet sounds of birds chirping on a tree branch just outside your window. There really was nothing better in life than waking up from a good night’s sleep. The woman thought this as she sat up on her bed, but she didn’t get out of it. Oh no, she was still much too sick for that. Her head was fuzzy, her nostrils were filled, and her eyes were swollen. She certainly felt better than how she did last night. But it still looked like this was going to be another day spent in bed.

She reached for the glass of water at her bedside and wondered internally when this illness would be over already. Being sick was far too annoying for a woman her age, and she certainly couldn’t spare giving up her time being cooped up all alone in a bed like this, especially with how hard her son had been working for her sake. He was working in the restaurant and taking care of his sick mother all by himself. It was inspiring to see how reliable her precious son had become, but at the same time, it worried her seeing him struggle so hard just because of her. She didn’t like this feeling of being a burden on him. She wished he would take a break once in a while, he was practically skin and bones! And not long after that, he’ll be going off to high school. _My,_ thought the woman with a weary smile on her face, _how time flies._

A knock at her bedroom door. “Come in.” The woman replied and the door swung softly open. A young man entered carrying a tray with both his arms. He closed the door behind him, and the fragrant smell of beans, eggs, and crispy bacon filled the room. Even with her partially blocked nose, she could smell and appreciate the scent of her dear son’s cooking. Tilting her head slightly, she could get a better view of the tray he was carrying.

A plate of food, a cup of tea, and a small pill cup with medicine inside. He gingerly set the tray down on her nightstand. With a worried expression, he observed his mother.

“Mornin’ momma. How’re you feelin’ today? Better, I hope?”

The woman smiled. She had a good, hardworking son and she was happy for it. Suppressing an urge to cough, she answered. “Yes, much better now thanks to the medicine that you gave me. If I keep this up, I might be all healed up by the end of the week.”

The boy sniffed. “End of the week? What are you talkin’ about, momma? Today is Friday already.”

“Hm? Oh!” The woman raised her eyebrows in shock. “I must have messed up the dates again. I swear, this cold has gotten me all scrambled in the head.”

“Maybe you’re not getting better after all.” Her son suggested, his face concerned.

“No, really. I’m-“ She tried to say something but was caught by a sudden coughing fit which prompted her son’s worry to worsen.

“Oh no no no no.” He cried. “You mustn’t push yourself, momma. Just lie down and rest. I’ll keep things operational downstairs.”

“Oh but…” The woman sighed as she caught her breath and settled down once more. “Things can’t keep going like this, can it? Pretty soon, you’ll be going off to high school and I’ll be here all by myself.”

“Yes, and we wouldn’t want- Hm, momma? What did you just say?” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not going to high school soon. I already came back, remember?”

“Huh…?”

“I’ve already graduated from high school for a few months now. I came back to take care of the business for a while before you fell ill. And now I’m keeping the restaurant running while you heal up. Don’t you remember?”

“O-oh, that’s right. How silly of me.” She gasped. “I completely forgot. I must have been dreaming or something… yes, that’s right. That was two years ago already.”

Her son nodded but his face still looked worried. “Just… just make sure you get your rest, okay? I’ll take care of things downstairs, so you don’t have to worry.” He turned to the tray he set nearby and the various items on it. “I brought you breakfast. You don’t have to finish it all if you’re not feeling up for it but do try to eat as much as you can. Take the medicine here with the herbal tea, make sure you drink all of it. I’ll be back in a little bit to make sure that-“

“I know, I know.” The woman interrupted her son as he went through the same explanation he did every morning. She patted her son’s hand and he looked up at her with wide eyes. “Your mother can handle this much, don’t you think?”

“Oh… Oh, yes, of course!” His son nodded and agreed with her. “I just can’t help but worry, you know? Well, it’s time for me to get ready. I’ll see you later. Just make sure you drink all of your tea.”

“I will, you don’t have to worry about that.” She smiled and brought the teacup to her lips, gently exhaling a frosty breath to cool the steaming liquid. “Good luck down there.”

“Right!” He said and promptly exited the room.

The woman took a sip of the herbal tea and she could feel the fuzziness in her mind clearing up instantly. She set the teacup back on the tray and picked up the plate containing her breakfast.

_I hope I recover soon_. She thought. _At least in time before my amazing son starts attending high school_.

* * *

The boy left the room and closed the door behind him. Standing just outside, he heaved a heavy sigh. It seemed that his mother is recovering well, though he didn’t know exactly how much of that was real and how much of that was just her toughing through the symptoms. He honestly wish she wouldn’t do that, it made his life that much harder if he couldn’t accurately tell how well she was actually doing. Of course, she wanted to seem strong in front of her son, he knew that. But it still worried him.

Choosing between giving her the medicine or the poison each day was challenging enough already. Adding onto that, he needed to select the correct dosage as well to make sure that she didn’t accidentally slip into a coma or recover too fast and regain her senses. He could rely on his quirk for a superficial assessment of her condition, but he didn’t have much experience using it on humans. Not the way he wanted to at least. And the nurse wasn’t here to help him…

Ah, but isn’t that just fine? No, in fact, wasn’t it better this way? The boy’s mouth twisted in a disturbing smile. If he chose the wrong thing to bring her, or if he made a mistake with the dosage and his mother’s condition worsened or bettered too much too quickly… why, he could just imagine what a development such as that would cause. A rapturous feeling washed over him as the boy’s imagination ran wild. He suppressed a giggle. Right on the other side of the door was the patient, his mother. He hadn’t moved yet from his position and any noise he made could easily be heard from inside. Any wrong move might make her suspicious, and well…

Still, he always had that failsafe, he supposed.

Hm? Something seemed to be happening downstairs. The boy was taken out of his daydreaming and tilted his head. It sounded like… arguing? He glanced at a nearby clock. It was still a while before they opened, what could possibly be happening down there? Had some hooligans decided to come and harass their fine establishment? It wouldn’t be the Yakuza, he was sure of that, so they shouldn’t be that big of a deal. But someone still needs to go down there and teach them a lesson.

Having decided that for himself, the boy marched his way downstairs. Putting on his serious face for whatever may be occurring in his restaurant.

* * *

Asui knocked on the glass door. A man that could only be appropriately described as “large” appeared from inside and took a glance at the heroes gathered outside. He rolled up a sleeve and tilted his arm towards them. Using one large, beefy finger, he tapped the watch on his wrist in an exaggerated manner. Asui stared at the man with large, unblinking eyes. The man stared back.

A couple seconds passed as the atmosphere around them grew tense. Then, Asui raised her fist and knocked on the door again.

The large man took a quick step forward so that his belly was almost pressed up against the glass. He unlocked and tore open the door in a practiced, fluid motion that was so fast it caused the dust on the sidewalk to scatter in every direction.

He didn’t quite move so much as he _slid_ out of the door. The heroes slid backwards to accommodate for the large man’s presence. Normally, sudden movement in a direction may leave a person feeling disoriented, but the three heroes gathered in front of the restaurant felt no such thing. To them, it was almost as if the rest of the world had moved instead of them, just to send them a few centimetres back from the front door of the building. They felt nothing. If they hadn’t been paying attention, they might not even have noticed that they had been moved back.

The man took a step closer to them. If they concentrated, they could just barely sense the ground as it shook under his heavy footsteps. He was wearing a white chef’s coat, a black apron, and a white hat. Once outside, he drew himself up to his full height and looked down at the students, craning his neck at an intense angle.

“What part about ‘not open’ do you not understand, missy?! Closed is closed! We open in thirty minutes, so wait until then. Got that?!” The man yelled angrily at the heroes, his bushy mustache twitching up and down with every syllable, while his already reddened face grew to positively crimson proportions.

“We’re not here to eat.” Asui replied calmly, not faltering once to the man’s intimidating figure. “We were sent here to investigate by the Future Foundation.”

“What?! Investigate?! Future-?! What?!” He sputtered as he tried to process what Asui just said, his face growing redder all the while.

This was the second day of the heroes’ investigations. Their first day had uncovered very little of note, besides some bits and pieces of strange testimony offered by the locals.

Todoroki stepped up as Asui took a moment to wipe spittle off her face and hero costume. “We received reports of suspicious activity originating from this area. After asking people around town, we found out that there’s something in common with everyone who started to act strangely. Namely, they all dined at this restaurant.” Todoroki looked past the man and into the building itself, causing the man to take an angry step to the side to block his view.

“There ain’t no despair here, if that’s what you’re after. This entire city is despair free, you got that?” He jabbed a finger at Todoroki’s general direction and shouted.

The Future Foundation had several safety designations for residential areas after the Tragedy, most of which indicated the concentration of despair in the local and surrounding area. Areas that have high amounts of despair activity were generally unlivable for ordinary citizens and are considered too dangerous for the student heroes to patrol or investigate in. Instead, they’re sent to areas with significantly lower amounts of despair sightings and activity in order to keep them more or less safe from harm and allow the professional heroes and agents to work in the more dangerous areas of Japan.

“And what do you mean ‘acting weird’ anyway?” The man prodded at the heroes’ words. “If you ask me, you three are the weirdest around here by a mile.”

“Well, that’s- hmm…”

Truth be told, there wasn’t a good way to describe the actions of the affected individuals besides suspicious. While this particular area was never an official target by Ultimate Despair, and therefore designated safe enough for the students to work in, they did send out a steady stream of Monokuma robots that required constant vigilance and manpower to repel. As such, this took a mental toll on the residents of the area, even the ones who weren’t directly involved in the defense efforts. The general mood of the place was heavy to say the least, though some try to remain cheerful, the effects of the Tragedy were still etched deeply into their face.

So it certainly made it strange when people started seeming happier all of a sudden. The lines of worry on their faces had faded, a certain spring returning to their step, some had started _whistling_ even as they made their way to and from work each day. Normally, this would be seen as a good thing. Hope returning to the people in times of despair, the idea that their lives will surely get better. But the other townspeople just couldn’t shake the feeling that these people seemed out of place. A certain something in the back of their minds that told them that these people weren’t acting right. Maybe it was the glossy look in their eyes that made their smiles look creepy instead of happy, or how they tended to stare off into space no more than three separate times in a single conversation.

Asui and her team found out that this restaurant seemed to be the biggest concern of the people that started behaving strangely. After asking around for a bit, they decided to come back the next day to check it out. Now, it seemed that they were just a bit too early to get inside.

The man shifted his gaze from Asui to Todoroki before looking slightly past them. There, stood Mineta. From the difference in height between the two, he had to tilt his head straight up to meet the man’s eyes. Upon noticing his gaze, Mineta wordlessly raised a purple, gloved hand and waved at the cook.

Grunting slightly, the man looked at all three of them. “Thirty minutes.” He repeated. Although no longer shouting, his gruff tone still carried the tone of someone who doesn’t want to be argued with.

“We really won’t take up much of your time.” Todoroki argued. “Just a quick look around and we’ll be on our way.”

The man had started to walk back into the building before hearing this response. Quickly, he turned and faced the heroes once more, his face not quite dissimilar to a boiling lobster. Towering over them, he forced the corners of his mouth up in what was clearly the most forced smile he could manage. “The restaurant opens in thirty minutes. We will be _happy_ to answer any questions you have then.” Although his tone was quiet, the man’s voice was clearly hostile.

Asui and Todoroki looked at one another. “I guess we don’t have much of a choice.” She said and Todoroki nodded in response.

“Yeah, let’s go somewhere else to kill time.” Mineta suggested. “What a shame. And to think we came all bright and early too.”

“Well well well, what do we have here?” A voice smooth as butter appeared and caught their attentions. “Judging by those slick costumes you three are currently wearing… it wouldn’t be wrong of me to say that you lot are _heroes_ , correct?”

“Wha-? Sir!” The large man sounded shocked as he addressed the sudden newcomer. Curious, the three heroes all turned to see what was going on.

“I never imagined my very own _petit_ restaurant would garner attention from heroes of the Future Foundation of all places. My, and we’re not even ready to open yet.”

The new person stepped out from inside of the restaurant with a bounce in his step. He was smiling happily as he greeted the students, much more happily than the other man, at any rate. Like him, this newcomer was wearing a chef’s jacket and a large chef’s hat on his head, though his were both bright red.

“Don’t mind this rude man here. Allow me to personally welcome you three to our wonderful establishment.”

“R-rude? But Boss, I was just-“

“Relax yourself, dear sous-chef.” The newcomer addressed the large man easily. “You haven’t done anything wrong. But these heroes here are a bit of a uh… special case. You can just go back inside and continue with the setup. I’ll manage things over here.”

The sous-chef’s large mustache twitched a fraction as he looked between the head chef and the heroes. “Special? You mean… Er, uh, you got it boss. I’ll leave this to you then.” He bowed slightly as he lumbered back into the building.

Turning back to the heroes, the newcomer smiled graciously. “Welcome! I’m the owner and head chef of this fine establishment, Teruteru Hanamura. And let me just say it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you here on this fine day.”

“Likewise, I suppose.” Asui responded. “I’m Tsuyu Asui, with me are Shouto Todoroki and Minoru Mineta. You can call me Tsuyu, if you like.

We were sent here by the Future Foundation to investigate because some townspeople apparently started acting weird. We asked around and they seemed to all have one thing in common. Namely, they all ate here. That’s why we were hoping to investigate here for any suspicious activity.”

“Oh er, um. What kind of suspicious activity are you looking for, if I may ask?” Hanamura sniffed, seemingly in response to Asui’s comments. “I guarantee that all our food is made from only the freshest ingredients. And our labour practices have all been above board.”

“We’re looking for despair-related activity, of course.” Todoroki supplied. “Although, we certainly won’t look the other way if anything illegal were uncovered.”

“You’re looking mighty nervous there, Hanamura.” Mineta pointed an accusatory finger at the chef, who was fidgeting slightly. “Is there something you’ve been hiding?”

“N-no! Not at all! I was… it’s merely the cold out here.” Hanamura chuckled nervously as he attempted to deflect. “The brisk morning air sure does wonders for your heart rate, doesn’t it? Ah, but maybe you’d like to step inside for now, so you don’t all catch a cold.” As he said this, Hanamura stepped back inside and the heroes followed.

The heroes surveyed the interior as they entered. Waiters were running to and fro, table to table, frantically setting up each and every one. They were carefully placing napkins and cutlery down at a breakneck speed. Their polished movements mesmerizing as they moved from table to table.

Several distinct noises could be heard from the kitchen area. If one were to describe them, they might choose the words “loud” and “angry.” The heroes supposed this was the sous-chef they had met earlier, commanding the other chefs in their early morning routine and yelling at them when they messed up. If one listened even longer then further sounds can be heard as well. These sounds can be best described as “shattering.”

It occurred to the heroes that they had never seen a large-scale restaurant being set up before, and they took a moment to observe the scene before them. Each and every person moved like a well-oiled cog in a machine. They watched in polite awe as life bubbled into the restaurant.

“Ah, isn’t it beautiful?” Hanamura asked, interrupting their thoughts. He seemed to notice them admiring the work and was beaming with pride. “Of course, the other staff might disagree, but this is my favourite part of the day. Watching the drab interior as it turns into a majestic work of art. It’s amazing, _non_?”

“You don’t have to help?” Asui tilted her head. It seemed that the owner was awfully free despite the hectic state of the rest of the workers.

“Oh, _non non non_.” Hanamura wagged his finger at Asui’s question. “Everyone here has their own job to do, their own role in the team. Even if I were to join in, things wouldn’t get any faster nor more precise. Because of my talents, I’m only needed when things get _truly_ chaotic.

As he said this, the sound of a plate crashing and breaking could be heard from inside the kitchen, accompanied by many screams and terrifying yelling. Asui and Mineta looked at one another, wondering how things weren’t chaotic enough as is.

“So you said that you were the owner, correct?” Todoroki posed a question directly to the chef. “Forgive me for asking, but how old are you exactly? You seem quite young.”

Hanamura perked up as he heard this. “Oho, are you interested in me? Well, I’m far too busy with my work for now for any personal affairs. But maybe once we’re all wrapped up here, we can find a nice, relaxing place to-“

“Dude, he just wants to know your age.” Mineta interrupted Hanamura’s ramblings as they ramped up in intensity. He was staring at the chef with a grossed out look on his face.

“Ah, but of course. You can’t choose a dish without seeing the menu first, right?” Hanamura giggled to himself. “I’m eighteen years old. I was still attending high school when um… Well, you know what happened, I’m sure.”

“So you’re only about a year older than us.” Asui commented. “That’s quite impressive, to hold such a position at such a young age.”

“You flatter me, _mademoiselle_. But to be honest, I don’t feel that age has anything to do with it. As long as you have the talent, then it doesn’t matter how old you are. At least, that’s how my other siblings felt… And they’re right, I think. Though their cases are perhaps a little different than mine.”

“I believe we may be getting off topic…”

“And really, to try to shut me down just because of my age? Why, the nerve of some people.” Hanamura said as he clutched his hat in frustration. “I abide by health regulations. I follow the codes and guidelines for proper food safety. But will that stop the inspectors that are in the pockets of those fat cat restaurant managers? Those same managers that’ll do everything in their power to shut down an up and coming business like my own. They’ll search and hunt and sniff through every little crack they can find just to shut me down. Just because they thought a teenager like me would be an easy target.

But I survived. In the end, I persevered and got to where I am today. I earned every bit of my title as the Ultimate C-“

Hanamura quickly clasped his hands over his mouth. He eyed the heroes carefully. They seemed concerned, but also wary of the diminutive chef. Suddenly, he sniffed and glanced towards the kitchen area. “O-oh, it seems like they need my help in there.” Turning back to the heroes. “I’m so terribly sorry, but do excuse me for just one second, _s’il vous pla_ _î_ _t_?” Without waiting for a response, he quickly walked away, leaving the three student heroes alone in the middle of a busy restaurant.

“Well, that was odd.” Asui said after they took a brief moment of silence to process what had just occurred. They stepped out of the way of the other workers while in order to discuss their next moves.

“I’ll say.” Mineta agreed. “Did you see the way he was coming onto Todoroki?”

“What?” Todoroki asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Dude, you couldn’t tell? That Hanamura guy got really excited when you asked about him.”

“I think you’re misinterpreting things, Mineta.” Asui frowned.

“I’m telling you, I sensed something.” Mineta insisted. He gestured towards himself with a thumb proudly. “A pervert can spot another pervert.”

“I think Tsuyu was referring to when Hanamura started ranting about being shut down.” Todoroki explained, earning himself a nod from Asui and grumbling from Mineta. “But I don’t see any signs of them being at risk. I didn’t get any feel of that being the case from the sous-chef from before, either.”

“No, from the way he was speaking. I think all of that must have happened in the past.” Asui pointed out. “Remember, he said that he ‘persevered’ and earned a title. Meaning this isn’t something that’s happening now.”

“That’s right! And wasn’t there something weird about that title?” Mineta asked. “He said he was the ‘Ultimate’ something, but he cut himself off.”

“Ultimate… Ultimate… could he be an Ultimate Despair?” Todoroki wondered.

“There’s no way that we’d find an Ultimate Despair this easily, right?” Argued Mineta.

“I guess not… But this _is_ still the place we’re investigating.” Asui reminded them. “We’re here because we think that there’s something wrong with the restaurant. If there’s anywhere for Ultimate Despair to show up, it’d be here.”

“Hmmm.” The heroes were silent for a while as they pondered the implications of Asui’s idea.

“Then… we should go in there and find out, right?” Mineta suggested. “If Hanamura really is a member of Ultimate Despair, it’s up to us to find out.” As he said this, Mineta cast gaze towards the kitchen that the chef had disappeared into. The insides were blocked by a two large flaps of cloth, and they could just barely make out the outlines of people scurrying about as they worked to prepare to open for the day.

“No, wait.” Asui cautioned. “Consider where we are first.” As she said this, Todoroki and Mineta turned to look at her. “Although we don’t know for sure, let’s assume that Hanamura is a member of Ultimate Despair. Then what about the rest of the employees here?”

“The rest…”

“…of the employees?”

“Right. We don’t know whether all of them, or none of them, or just some of them are also aligned with despair. In the very worst case, we could be massively outnumbered.”

“I suppose that’s true…” Mineta agreed. “Should we call for backup?”

“But we have no proof either way, right?” Todoroki noted. “Even if he seemed a little weird, we can’t definitively say that Hanamura is a member of Ultimate Despair. Perhaps we’re a bit too on edge given the circumstances. The three of us decided that investigating here was a good idea yesterday, but if we’ve changed our minds, we can try another tactic.”

“That’s right.” Asui nodded to Todoroki’s words. “We came here to investigate. We shouldn’t be jumping at every little thing.”

“So, it’s settled then.” Mineta nodded as well.

“Oh? What’s settled?” Hanamura asked, causing the other heroes to jump just slightly. “I’ve returned as promised, hope you didn’t get lonely without me.” As he said this, the chef winked in an exaggerated manner.

Asui, after looking between Mineta and Todoroki was the first to speak up. “We didn’t hear you return. How long have you been there?” Asui kept her face neutral as she spoke. Both she and her teammates watched Hanamura carefully.

“Oh, I certainly didn’t mean to scare you guys or anything. You were probably just too engrossed in your conversation to notice. Y’know what I mean?” While he was saying this, Hanamura pulled out a comb and started to adjust his hair. “Anyway, we’ve just about wrapped up in there. Barring any emergencies, I should be free for a good little while. Now you know why my sous-chef was so picky about opening time, don’t you? In any case, I’m all yours for the time being. What did you want with li’l ole me again?”

“Um, before that. You mentioned earlier about achieving some kind of title but cut yourself off.” Todoroki said. “What was it you were about to say?”

“Hm? Oh that.” Hanamura seemed unfazed by the question and shrugged flippantly. “To be honest, the title I received was the Ultimate Cook, but I prefer to be called the Ultimate Chef instead. It gives it more of a big-city feeling to it, y’know?”

“Is that so…” Todoroki pondered this. “Now, when you say ‘Ultimate’-“

“Well, we can’t just stand here and talk about that all day.” Hanamura said impatiently, interrupting Todoroki. “You said that you wanted to investigate this here restaurant?”

“That’s right.” Asui said. “Have you heard anything about-“

“About the locals acting weirdly, right? Course I have. Who hasn’t?” Hanamura cut her off. “And those are the ones who ate at our place, yeah? But is that really so weird? I mean, just think about it. Such reactions are only a testament to how good our food truly is. So much so that they start to forget the melancholy of their lives after the Tragedy, and that they can focus on the positives instead.”

“Positives like… the food?” Mineta asked incredulously.

“But of course! Good food, good drink, and good women, that’s the secret to a happy life. Here at our restaurant, we concern ourselves with the first.”

“I see…”

“Ah, but don’t just take my word for it. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll cook you a meal myself. I guarantee that after just one bite, you won’t be able to stop yourself.” Hanamura said happily, eager to show off his skills.

“Sorry, but we can’t.” Asui declined the chef’s offer. “It’d be unprofessional to eat while on a mission.”

“That’s a shame. Maybe next time, then?” Hanamura asked hopefully.

“I kinda wanted to see if this food really was as special as he claimed it was…” Mineta grumbled under his breath.

“Could we look inside the kitchen? Just to look around.” Asui asked. “We won’t be too intrusive. I promise.”

“I suppose that’s fine, but…” Hanamura was skeptical at the heroes as he considered Asui’s request. “You gotta make sure you wash your hands. And you gotta wear these over your shoes. And these on your heads.” Hanamura took out some shoe covers and hairnets and handed them over. Once they were ready, they followed him into the kitchen.

* * *

Hanamura watched as the three fledgling heroes navigated his kitchen with care. He was used to people of dubious repute sniffing around his kitchen, hoping to find dirt on him to take him and his business down for good. They knew what they were doing was despicable, downright dirty even. They also knew that they were protected not only by the law, but their employers. And that meant that they could be as thorough and as disrespectful as they wished in their methods.

These heroes weren’t like that. It could be because they were younger, that they were raised to be more mindful of the people around them, or that they simply hadn’t experienced enough in life to turn them into like the kind of people that antagonized Hanamura in the past. That was evident enough in their methods. Usually, inspectors and the like were savvy enough to go straight for proper hiding spots and common areas where code violations occurred. And while doing so, they watched the owner like a hawk to gauge their reactions. A nervous twitch or any signs of being distraught and they redouble their efforts almost immediately.

Hey, he can’t help it if he got sweaty at times, alright? _You_ try working in a kitchen all day without sweating your sweat glands all dry.

… Okay, so he may still be holding some grudges from the past. But that’s okay, because they’ve never, not once, been able to find anything to even inconvenience him, let alone shut the whole place down. How did Hanamura accomplish this, you ask? Simple. It was because he had nothing to hide.

Well, it sounds simpler than it really is. Of course, Hanamura made a conscious effort to do everything by the book, just the way momma taught him to. But just that wasn’t enough. He had to be _spotless_. Otherwise, even the slightest little thing could be taken and exaggerated until his license was revoked. So he worked and worked, tirelessly while supporting his mother, until he finally came out on top, and was dubbed the Ultimate Cook by Hope’s Peak Academy.

So the heroes won’t find anything either. Just because he was working with Ultimate Despair didn’t mean that his values were compromised. That’s right, this operation was purely above board. Infiltrating a city and winning over its residents’ hearts with his cooking was a job that fit him to a T. Although, Hanamura wondered if perhaps he had been _too_ successful, now that he got the Future Foundation involved.

No, that’s absurd. After all, having a flair for the dramatic is the most important element in both cooking and romance. And… truth be told, it wasn’t so bad that the Future Foundation got involved. He looked towards the sous-chef and their eyes met. He nodded, signaling that they were just about ready.

Forgetting himself, Hanamura shivered with anticipation. He was going to take down heroes. _Heroes_. Sure, they weren’t the most experienced, but they were still heroes. He let a wave of delectable despair wash over himself before bringing his attention back to the situation at hand. Sniffing the air, it seemed that all will go according to plan.

* * *

“Hey, have you found anything?” Mineta walked up to Todoroki and asked.

“No. Everything here is just… normal kitchen stuff.” Todoroki sighed. “Nothing here really stands out to me.”

“I get what you mean. I know we’re supposed to be looking for clues, but like, what’s a clue supposed to look like?” Mineta picked up a scrap of lettuce from the floor. “I mean, is this a clue?”

“Maybe we’ll know when we find it.”

“And if we don’t?”

Todoroki and Mineta was silent as they thought about this. Noticing this, Asui went over to them.

“You stopped. Is something the matter?” She asked.

“Tsuyu… have you found anything so far? What do you think?”

Asui tapped her chin with her finger. “Me? I was looking through some tea leaves. But aside from that, there doesn’t seem to be anything weird here.”

“Right? I don’t think there’s anything out of the ordinary here.” Mineta said. “I mean, I guess it’d be a stretch to expect to find the severed head of some animal in one of these pots, but even so…”

“Then, should we take our leave?” Asui wondered. “If we stay, we might be able to find something big. Or we could be missing something outside.”

“Or there could just be nothing strange going on at all entirely. Maybe Hanamura was right.”

“Hmm. Maybe-“

Just as Asui was about to suggest their next move, a door opened beside them and cold air immediately gushed out into the kitchen.

“The freezer? It opened on its own…?”

“Cold…”

Should even one of the hero students have been more on edge and alert, they might have avoided what was about to happen. But after painstakingly searching through the kitchen, they have already subconsciously decided that Hanamura was of no threat to them. And so, they allowed themselves to become lax just a single moment.

In just a single moment, the space around them changed.

“Wh-what is this?!” Todoroki asked.

The air around them turned cold, the lights dim. In the blink of an eye, they were moved into the open freezer.

“The door!” Mineta shouted and Todoroki turned back behind him. The door that connected the giant, walk-in freezer to the back of the kitchen was closing rapidly. Mineta reached for his head to Pop Off a ball but was stopped by his hair net. Angrily, he ripped it off and threw it on the cold floor before lobbing a sticky mass at the closing door in the hopes of jamming it before it closed completely.

“Damnit!” He shouted.

“Hey!” Todoroki went up to the door and pounded on it with his fist. “Hey, what’s the meaning of this?!”

Seeing this, Mineta rushed to the door as well. “Open the door right this instant! Hey, is anyone out there?!”

“C-cold…”

“ **!** ”

“Tsuyu!!!”

* * *

Hanamura observed the door with great satisfaction. He wondered if they were panicking on the other side right now. To be trapped in a freezer that locked from the outside, he smiled gleefully at the despair that those heroes no doubt were experiencing right now.

“Erm, what now, boss?” The sous-chef asked, stroking his mustache in contemplation.

“What now? Why, we get ready to open, that’s what we do now!” Hanamura replied. “Get ready, because we’re about to have one heck of a busy day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How long has it been since I last updated? Are you still with me? I really hope you are. Things have been hectic, but I finally managed to find some time to write. Huzzah!
> 
> This… this chapter is a little long it seems. So long that I decided to split it into two parts. In fact, I sort of regret not doing this for the Akane fight. All, if not most, future Ultimate Despair fights will probably be split into two… maybe? We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
> 
> The Ultimate Despair encountered is Teruteru Hanamura! Were you correct in your predictions or were you off? How are you liking him so far? Feel free to comment below!
> 
> A few of the things in this chapter reference a book series I read a long time ago, and in fact, so does Teruteru’s quirk. I’ve given a few hints about how it works and what it does already. Have you figured it out?
> 
> Next chapter: Heroes vs Teruteru Hanamura


	8. Chapter 8

“Tsuyu!” Todoroki caught Asui in his arms as she fell over, just barely preventing her from landing on the cold, freezer floor.

“It’s the cold! She’s gone into hibernation! Todoroki, use your Fire side, quick!” Mineta shouted.

“Right!” Flames quickly covered his left side as he moved Asui over to his right so she didn’t get burned. Slowly, he adjusted his quirk’s output to a comfortable level while Mineta sidled close to also bask in the heat.

“Tsuyu… how’s this, are you feeling okay now?” Todoroki asked.

Blinking softly, Asui slowly opened her eyes. “… Sorry.” She mumbled at such a low volume, it sounded like a croak.

“No, don’t blame yourself.” Todoroki said. “It’s not your fault that you’re weaker in cold conditions.”

“Yeah, what he said.” Mineta nodded. After a while, he added. “Remember at USJ when we all got teleported to that ocean place and you dragged Midoriya and me out of the water? We would have been toast without you there. Sometimes you’ll be in conditions where you have an advantage and sometimes you won’t. That’s why we’re working in teams, isn’t it? To cover one another.”

Though it was faint, a tiny smile could be seen on Asui’s face. “…Thank you.” She said, still affected by the cold. “Both of you.”

“No problem.” Mineta replied. “Now, if Tsuyu’s fine, what about you, Todoroki?”

“What do you mean?” Todoroki asked as he was adjusting the way Asui was positioned at his side.

“You’re the only thing here keeping us between hypothermia and frostbite.” Mineta explained. “How long will you be able to make that Fire?”

“Hmm. Normally my main concern is overheating myself. I shouldn’t have to worry about that in here. Although I’ve never practiced inside a giant freezer like this before, if I’m outputting a Flame of this magnitude my guess is… maybe an hour before I start getting tired?”

Mineta frowned. “So we have an hour to get ourselves out of here? That’s really not a long time… and then we have to fight those guys, too?”

“Well, even if my Fire side is tired out, I still have my Ice half. Of course, that’s assuming we get out of here in the first place.”

“Then, I guess we better start looking for a way out.” Mineta said and Todoroki nodded.

They began to look around. Not only was it cold, it was dark inside of the giant freezer that had trapped them. It was probably too optimistic to think that the enemy that locked them in here and left them to die would be so kind as to turn on the lights for them. Still, they had Todoroki’s Fire. Not only was it effective at combatting the cold, it made for a convenient light source as well.

* * *

“What are you doing just staring off into space like that?” Hanamura chided a young worker who was looking nervously at the closed freezer door. “We have orders to fill. Every second spent doing nothing is a second wasted, you got that?”

“Oh, r-right! But boss…” He pointed to the where the heroes had been trapped. “A-are you sure about this, I-I mean...”

“Hm? Is something the matter? Is there something wrong with the freezer?” Hanamura tilted his head in a wry manner.

“W-well, it’s just that…. I was thinking…” The employee stammered. “Are we sure about doing this? I mean, the heroes are…”

“Hm? What about the heroes?” Hanamura smiled obliviously.

“Well, I mean- and this is just my memory so I might be mistaken but… One of the heroes that came here, the one with red and white hair… He’s the son of Endeavour and has a Fire quirk just like him. W-won’t that mean that putting them in there is a bad idea? I mean, he can just bust out, can’t he?”

“Oh, you sweet, sweet child. Is that what was worrying you?” Hanamura giggled and patted his employee tenderly on the back. Because of the difference in height, he had to stand on the tips of his toes. But the effect remained the same, he hoped. “Of course we’re not planning to actually kill them in there. Just slow them down a little bit. That’s why we’re preparing all this now, understand?”

“O-oh, is that why…?” The employee looked relieved as Hanamura chuckled to himself.

“Of course, did you think that trapping a group of heroes in a freezer was all Ultimate Despair was capable of? You still a ways to go if you want to measure up in this business.”

“Y-yes boss! Of course!” The employee straightened up his back, his red eyes glowing in excitement. “I’ll work hard and spread as much despair as I possibly can!”

“Hahaha. Well said. Well said indeed.” Hanamura praised the boy. Looking back at the freezer, a contemplative look sprawled on his gaunt face. “That being said, there _is_ still a possibility…”

“A possibility, boss? Of what?”

“Hm, hm, hm.” Hanamura laughed. “Do you remember what happens when you keep a fire burning?”

“What happens… Oh! So you mean…!”

“Exactly, dear boy. Exactly.”

* * *

“Nothing but boxes of food in here. Guess that’s not too surprising. It’s not like I expected to find a key or a trap door or something.” Mineta commented as they walked around.

“Hey Tsuyu, how are you feeling?” Todoroki asked. He was supporting Asui with his right shoulder as they walked.

She blinked. Slowly, Asui opened her managed to speak. “Still a little groggy. But I probably won’t go into hibernation if we stay like this.”

“Don’t worry, Tsuyu. We’ll make sure you don’t _croak_ in a place like this.” Mineta joked.

“Really?” Todoroki sighed. Both he and Asui were looking at him with dead eyes.

“Hey, come on! I was just trying to lighten the mood!” Mineta held up his hands in defense. “Jeez, some people are so…” He stopped in the middle of the sentence. His eyes seemed to focus on something in front of him.

“Mineta? Are you alright?” Todoroki asked, vaguely confused and concerned.

“H-hey, how long have we been stuck in here again?” Mineta turned to Todoroki suddenly, a panicked look on his face.

Todoroki took out the phone from the pocket of hero costume. The first thing they had done in the freezer was to try and call for help and backup. They weren’t meant to be fighting after all, their goal was only to investigate. Of course, the reason that they were being sent out as teams of three was so that they’d be able to deal with tough situations if they needed to.

Checking the time on the screen, Todoroki responded. “Around fifteen minutes. Why?”

“This freezer, it isn’t ventilated.” Mineta explained in agitation. “Connecting an air vent from inside here to somewhere else will waste all the cold air. That means the inside of this freezer is completely sealed off from the outside world. Besides that locked door, nothing can get in or out. Do you guys understand what that means?!”

A shiver of terror went down Todoroki’s spine as he realized what Mineta was getting at. “Oxygen… If we stay here too long, we’ll use up all the oxygen. And fire requires oxygen to burn. The stronger the flame, the more it consumes. If we don’t find a way out, eventually we’ll suffocate to death in here.”

Mineta nodded wordlessly as he grabbed his head in panic. His breathing got more frantic as he looked around the dim freezer in desperation. “We’ve been in here for fifteen minutes and we’re still nowhere closer to finding an exit. There’s no reception here, and we can’t call for help! We’re gonna freeze or suffocate to death in here!”

“Wha- Mineta, calm down! Panicking isn’t going to solve anything.” Todoroki said in an attempt to placate him.

“Well what _can_ we do, huh?! There’s only one way out of this place and that’s through the door! And that thing’s locked from the outside!”

“Well, what about the Future Foundation?” Todoroki suggested. “They’re expecting us back at around noon. If we don’t show up then-“

“That’s hours from now! And that’s only when they’ll notice something’s wrong. It’ll take time for reinforcements to arrive, and even then, they don’t even know we’re trapped in here to begin with. They won’t know where to investigate.” Mineta countered.

“Right… I guess waiting for them isn’t a viable strategy….” Todoroki relented and tried to think of other options they could take.

“Hey!! Open up! You hear me?! Open the damn door!” Mineta shouted as he pounded on the door. His fists making a loud, echoing sound as they drummed against the metal.

“Mineta…”

“You can melt it, right? You can use your Fire to melt the door, can’t you?” Mineta grabbed at Todoroki’s costume. “You’re the only one with any firepower here. You have to break us out!”

“Wait, Mineta!” Todoroki grabbed Mineta with his free hand. “I get what you’re saying but please calm down! I can try to use my Fire to melt the door but just think about the consequences. The hotter a flame burns, the more oxygen it consumes. If the door is resistant enough to heat, then it’s possible that the Fire I make wouldn’t be enough to do anything to it. Then we’ll have lost even more oxygen.”

“Then what do we do?”

“That… I’m not sure.” Admitted Todoroki.

“The door…”

“Huh? Tsuyu?” As they were pondering what to do, Asui suddenly spoke up. With one arm clinging onto Todoroki, she raised her other arm slowly and pointed to the edge of the door.

“I remembered just now… about the freezer doors like this one… the rubber… melt it…” Asui’s voice was barely audible as she struggled to fight off her hibernation instincts. “Melt it with your Flame…”

“The rubber… you mean this thing?” Todoroki moved his hand across the door until he found what Asui was talking about. On the side of the door was a long, black strip of rubber that sealed the door shut.

“If you melt it… air should be able to… come in through the gaps…” Said Asui.

“That’s right…!” Todoroki muttered as he realized what Asui meant. “This rubber is what’s insulating the fridge from the outside. It’s what keeping all the cold air in while the door is shut. That means if we get rid of this piece of rubber, air from the outside will start flowing in.”

“That means we won’t have to worry about running out of oxygen!” Mineta pointed out.

“That’s right… It has a low melting point too…” Asui added. “So you should be able to make quick work of it.”

“Got it.” Todoroki nodded and put his hand over the strip. Gathering his concentration, he increased the amount of Fire coming out of his hand. Asui and Mineta watched as the black strip turned red, a couple seconds later it started to drip.

“It’s melting!” Mineta said excitedly. “We’re saved!”

After a couple of minutes, the black rubber where Todoroki had his hand had been removed entirely, leaving a small gap between the door and the freezer wall. Todoroki continued this for the rest of the door until it was all melted off.

“I think I can feel the warm air rushing in.” Mineta said as he put his hand over the gap.

“Now that oxygen isn’t a problem, we can start to work on the rest of the door.” Todoroki said. “This was a big help. Thanks Tsuyu.”

“Haah… No problem…”

* * *

The door swung open and the heroes leapt out of the freezer and back into the kitchen. Mineta was the first one out and he already had his quirk ready to throw. Todoroki carried Asui on his back while he channeled both his left and right hands with their respective elements. Though their environment was less frigid, she was still under the effects of the cold temperatures of the freezer. It would take time for her to warm up and go back to her usual self.

This meant, however, that Todoroki could not use his quirk to his fullest extent. Although his arms and hands were free, he wouldn’t be able to create Ice or Fire from his back due to the fact that Asui would be hit first if he tried. Despite that, what he had was still more than enough to face off against the enemy.

They looked around. The kitchen area was completely deserted. Just a few minutes ago, there had been no shortage of busy cooks running about screaming orders and various other things while nearly every station had been operating. Now, there was nothing. Not a single person was in sight, and not a single stove was cooking. The difference in atmosphere was jarring.

“Where the heck _is_ everyone?” Mineta wondered aloud, not getting out of his fighting stance yet in case they were in a trap of some kind.

“No idea.” Todoroki admitted. “I thought they’d ambush us the moment we stepped out, but… they’re all gone.”

“Do you think they fled?” Mineta asked. He turned towards the doors that separated the kitchen from the rest of the restaurant. “I don’t hear anything from outside. Maybe this place is abandoned.”

“I doubt that would be the case.” Todoroki said. “If they were counting on us not making it out of the freezer, then there shouldn’t be any reason for them to abandon the kitchen like this. They must have some sort of plan.”

“Of course we do. You didn’t think that Ultimate Despair would act without a plan, would they? There certainly are limits to how foolish you can be.” A familiar voice called out to them.

“Hanamura! You!” They turned to face the villainous chef who returned their ferocious gazes with a sly smile. His red chef’s hat and apron clearly accentuating his the red in his eyes, making him look much more sinister and much more like a member of Ultimate Despair. He breathed hard as he surveyed the broken freezer door.

“Ah, you’ve made such a mess. Just who do you think is going to have to clean all this up when we’re all done here, hm?” Hanamura questioned. “Cleanliness is next to godliness, especially in a kitchen run by moi. But I suppose I can be willing to let this slide for such a special occasion.”

“Cut the crap, jerk.” Mineta cut in on Hanamura’s tirade and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You were the one who locked us in the freezer, weren’t you? Actually, don’t bother responding. We already know the answer.”

To this, Hanamura simply smiled brighter, and Mineta growled in response.

“So this restaurant is a front for Ultimate Despair.” Todoroki stated. “But why? What’s the point in infiltrating a town with a business like this? Surely you aren’t thinking of going legitimate. And you don’t seem to be feeding them anything weird either.”

“Hm hm hm. Why indeed, why indeed.” Hanamura chuckled. “Actually, do you want to know something interesting? Though we call the society we live in currently a “quirk society,” in the long run, talent will always reign supreme. There’s only so much that a quirk can do after all, and because they’re something you’re born with, it’s hard to value it as an actual skill when comparing to others. On the other hand, talent is something that accumulates over time, something that grows as you do. That’s what our school has always taught us, anyway, something that they made sure we understood.

I mean, just think about it. That Frog girl you’re carrying on your back. I bet she’s not allowed to participate in swimming competitions purely for the fact that she was born with such an overwhelming advantage in aquatic environments. I wonder if that’s fair when it all comes down to it. To be denied in doing something that you’re naturally gifted at, in order to give others, those who built up their talents through hard work and effort, a fair chance. Maybe it is and maybe it’s not. Meanwhile in other facets of life, the arts for example. Cooking, music, entertainment… no one cares how a dish is seasoned or how a guitar is plucked. Only that the end result is enjoyable. It’s much easier to get ahead in fields such as these, and there’s hardly any difference to having a quirk or not having one.”

“And? What’s your point?” Todoroki asked.

“Oh, just making conversation. I’m here on business after all. Not like the others. The gymnast’s… visiting family, was it? And the rocker…”

“The gymnast…? You mean Owari?” Asui perked up just a little as she made the connection in her head.

“Oh, have you two met already?” Hanamura brightened. “She’s a little slow but one of my biggest supporters. She has an appreciation for good cuisine which is something I like in a woman.”

“She was kidnapping and feeding pets to her family. She was planning on eating us as well.” Asui struggled out, feeling slightly perturbed at the memory.

Hanamura tilted his head. His red eyes glowed splendidly as he pondered idea. “Why that _does_ sound interesting. I’ve never thought of having heroes for dinner before. I’ll have to thank her for such an innovative suggestion later.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Said Todoroki as he gathered his quirk in his hands. “We are done discussing things with you.”

“Oh!” Hanamura raised his hands in shock. “I must have lost track of the time. Well, if you’re all finished here then by all means, you’re free to go.”

“You’re… letting us go?” Mineta asked. He raised an eyebrow in suspicion and squeezed the ball in his hand, testing its firmness.

“But of course.” Hanamura insisted. “My attempt on your lives has failed. And in fact, they didn’t even leave you scarred or deformed in the slightest. It was a pretty lackluster attempt, I must admit. I’m a lover not a fighter after all.” He gestured to the scene behind them and shrugged. “So why don’t we call it even? I mean, you’re welcome to try and fight me if you wish, but I’m fine with letting you guys go for now. We’re pretty much done here anyway. Not much to do besides to move on to our next target and start working there.”

“Do you really think we’ll let you do that?” Todoroki asked angrily.

“Oh, good heavens. I would hope not.” Hanamura raised his hands sarcastically. “I mean, opposing Ultimate Despair is practically the Future Foundation’s raison d'être. Take that away and then what are you left with? A corrupt organization with no clear goals or strategy that’s clearly going to collapse from the inside within a year? No, you clearly need a common enemy to work towards in order to forget your shortcomings.”

“What are you-“

“In any case, we certainly won’t make it easy for you the next time.” Hanamura interrupted. “The reason we drew the Foundation’s ire was because we were too showy. People were too impressed by the food we cooked and made too big of a splash. We’ll be much more secretive next time. You can count on that.

I’ve already gathered all of my darling cooks and spirited them away. I’m only back here to check on what’s left of you. What do you say?”

Mineta looked at Hanamura, then turned to Todoroki and Asui on his back. “What do we do?” He whispered.

Todoroki pursed his lips. They were instructed to stay clear of Ultimate Despair because of the clear and present danger each one of their members possessed. Something that was demonstrated when their classmates had encountered not one, but two Ultimate Despairs in a short period of time and narrowly got out with their lives. Their strength was unnatural. Though, if Midoriya’s theory was correct, it may be connected to their state of mind.

Was Hanamura like the Ultimate Despairs that they’ve encountered before? He didn’t look particularly strong, though looks can often be deceiving. The other question to ask was whether or not Hanamura was telling the truth. Would he really be willing to let them go after trying to kill them once? He had already revealed himself as a member of Ultimate Despair and stated that he planned on fleeing. Even if they reported this to the Future Foundation, all evidence of their wrongdoings would be gone by the time they mobilize a force to come arrest them. So there really was no good reason to fight them. That is, if he were telling the truth.

Todoroki frowned. The Future Foundation didn’t even know what they were setting out to accomplish here and now they were leaving? Does that mean that they let Ultimate Despair operate under their nose for so long? Todoroki shook his head.

“We can’t trust him.” Todoroki voiced his thoughts out loud. “Although I’d like nothing better than to avoid a confrontation with Ultimate Despair. Believing Hanamura when he says he’ll let us go is something I’m not comfortable with.”

“Same goes for me.” Asui whispered. “Especially since Ultimate Despair can seem trustworthy but can turn on you at any given instant.”

“Then we’re agreed.” Mineta said. “We’ll fight our way out.”

“Before that though. Asui, how are you feeling?” Todoroki asked the girl who was still being carried on his back.

“I’m fine now.” She replied. “I can fight too.” Todoroki put her down.

They nodded and turned back to face Hanamura. He perked up when he saw that the heroes had finished their discussion. He sniffed once and smiled. “So, have you come to a decision? Now that you’ve made up your minds-“

Todoroki shot out a massive wave of Ice at Hanamura before he was able to finish talking. He dodged and Mineta followed up by sticking balls onto the ground where Hanamura was intending to land. Hanamura landed in the gaps between the balls and deftly leapt backwards through them. He smiled wide at the heroes, showing off his sharp teeth.

“So you’ve chosen to fight, have you? Very well.” As he said this, Hanamura grabbed a number of skewers from out of nowhere. He took one in his right hand and chucked it like a spear at Todoroki’s head. He dodged the attack shot out a combination of Ice and Fire from his hand. Hanamura sniffed and held out a frying pan to block it.

As the two were fighting, Mineta had been creeping behind one of the tables and unleashed a barrage of balls at an unsuspecting Hanamura. Hanamura, however, simply took out another skewer and jabbed at the balls flying in midair, preventing any of them from sticking to his body without even looking behind him.

“What? But how?!” Mineta couldn’t believe it. It must have something to do with Hanamura’s quirk, but he wasn’t going to be able to figure out how it works from just that. Thinking this, Mineta followed up with another barrage. This time, Hanamura simply side stepped and fired a skewer back to where he was standing which forced Mineta to take cover.

Asui launched her tongue at Hanamura in hopes of snatching away one of his weapons, but the chef moved it away just in time.

* * *

Hanamura sniffed the air and smiled. Asui was behind a counter, ready to flick her tongue at him again. Todoroki was behind a different corner, he was planning on unleashing a wave of Flame this time, one that was more precise and controlled. And Mineta, he had made a shield out of his quirk, and was going to try to get in close with it as a defense.

They were hidden from view but that didn’t mean squat to Hanamura. Even if he wasn’t able to sense them, he was still able to Sniff them out. Using the powerful nose that was his quirk he can identify even the most delicate of scents, including the ones that were in people.

Of course, this quirk was immensely useful in the kitchen, as one would expect. But to call the talent that he so painstakingly cultivated the result of a quirk would just be terribly nearsighted. In fact, there were even people who tried to call him out on the talent that he had so rightfully trained for.

It was not until he single-handedly won an Iron Chef competition with a clothespin over his nose did he start to receive the respect he so rightfully deserved. Well, those dark days were past him now, and he had only bright futures ahead. That was what Enoshima had promised him anyway.

Hanamura fought off another wave of coordinated attacks with almost no effort at all. The heroes were stunned. They seemed as if they could hardly believe someone like him could be so strong and beat a hasty retreat to the back of the kitchen. Hanamura didn’t worry too much about it, there was only one exit here after all. Well, only one exit that _they_ know of.

Actually, come to think of it. How _did_ he get so strong all of a sudden. Hanamura was certain that he wasn’t able to throw these skewers so hard that they cracked the wall before. And blocking entire waves of Flame all at once with a pan? It was heat resistant, sure, but he certainly felt that it should’ve flown out of his grip at the amount of force Todoroki was outputting.

Oh well, thinking too hard only leads to defeat. Right now, he simply needed to face these heroes head on. There was no time for doubts. Hanamura Sniffed again and-

Huh?

* * *

“This is sooo grooooss.” Mineta complained. He took a whiff and gagged.

“I’m not too happy with it either, but this is our best chance to defeat Hanamura.” Todoroki reasoned, frowning at what his clothes had become.

“Yeah, you two will just have to bear with it for now.” Asui said as she wiped her mouth with her glove. “Sorry if it feels a little uncomfortable.”

Mineta held up his gloves and stared intently at them. “Even if we’re covered like this, will he really be unable to distinguish us?”

“Yup, that’s right. If his quirk is anything like Shishida’s, then right now he must think there are three of me.” Asui explained.

Just like in the joint training exercise with class 1-B, Asui emptied her stomach and covered her teammates with a large amount of her poisonous mucous. This trick was effective in tricking Shishida’s nose. By covering them in Asui’s scent, the Beastman was unable to distinguish between the real and fake Asuis.

They had discovered Hanamura’s quirk some time ago. It was obvious that the Ultimate Despair had been Smelling the air every so often in an exaggerated fashion, which was how he was able to determine their location and dodge their attacks. Now, they should have the upper hand in this battle.

* * *

Hanamura Sniffed fervently, but no matter what he always received the same information. Todoroki and Mineta had disappeared, and there were three Asui’s in their place. One was approaching from the right, one from the left, and one from above. As they drew nearer towards him, Hanamura took a half-step back. He held his frying pan close to his chest.

And he smiled.

* * *

“Too naïve. Simple way too naïve.” Hanamura taunted as he the heroes drew near. “Did you really think that was going to be enough to fool me?”

Hanamura moved his tiny body gracefully, and easily dodged another flurry of attacks that was launched against him. No amount of balls, Ice, nor tongue seemed to be able to pin him down.

“It’s not working!” Mineta panicked while ducking to dodge a skewer. “Why isn’t it working?”

“I- I’m not sure. Maybe there wasn’t enough?” Todoroki created another wall to defend himself. He could hardly believe that their plan had failed.

“No…”

* * *

Internally, Hanamura giggled to himself. He had enjoyed a brief moment of despair when he realized what the heroes had been up to, but that had passed, and he was back in control of the fight once more. He took another step closer to the heroes to bring them closer into his range.

The heroes surely didn’t know this, but his quirk had two stages. One was useful at long distances, which he called Long Sniffing, he could track scents at a range but the information he obtained wasn’t as complete. The other was called Short Sniffing, as long as he was close to enough to his target, he could extract all sorts of useful information just with the power of his nose. How much they were sweating, how fast their heart rate was, and most importantly, what their next moves will be.

The tightening and contracting of their muscles throughout their entire body, that was what Short Sniffing allowed Hanamura to detect. He sensed one Asui reaching for its head with both hands, one who had its palms outstretched, and one who was crawling around on the cupboards. From there, it was child’s play to determine who was who and how they were planning on attacking, as well as how he was going to evade.

There were limits to this power, however. Even if he could predict that someone would move one way, after he launched an attack of his own, they could easily react to it and dodge it by moving in the other way. That was why he still hadn’t been able to land a direct hit on any of them, despite several close calls. But now, the heroes were getting tired. Their hearts were beating fast and they were starting to sweat buckets. This fight is certainly close to being finished. Their muscles were probably screaming at them from inside their bodies.

Hanamura Sniffed and detected an Asui launching her tongue up in the air and was planning on bringing it down. All he had to do was-

Huh?

* * *

Asui, the real one, climbed on the walls and cupboards using her quirk. Their plan hadn’t failed, not entirely, at least. Though it seemed that way at the beginning, there was one thing that was off with how Hanamura reacted after they covered Mineta and Todoroki with slime.

He started to come closer.

In the beginning of the fight, Hanamura had stood several steps away from them and fired skewers with dangerous accuracy. He should have no reason to get closer, none of their quirks or fighting styles involved close-range combat after all. Now, every few attacks, Hanamura was taking a few steps and closing the distance to the heroes. Asui narrowed her eyes as she realized this. It was clear that getting in closer improved his quirk somehow, in a way that would offset them masking their scents.

But now that she realized this, what could be done? If they couldn’t negate the effects of his quirk, then was there some other way to win? Out of the corner of her eye, Asui spotted something. Something that wasn’t out of place in a kitchen but had the potential to win them the fight.

She jumped down from the side of the wall and landed close to Mineta and Todoroki.

“Todoroki get your Fire ready. Both of you will need to get ready to cover your faces.” She said and before they could respond, she jumped up onto the counter and whipped her tongue back.

This plan hinged on an assumption. That assumption was that Hanamura only paying attention to the movements of the heroes that he was fighting, and not the surroundings. With an information gathering quirk like his, it was important that the brain filters out useless information or it will get overloaded. Or at least, what they considered to be useless.

Asui flicked her tongue back and grabbed an entire row of spice bottles. She brought them down and in an instant Todoroki understood her plan. As the bottles fell, Todoroki unleashed a torrent of Flame that broke through the bottles, causing the containers’ contents to flow out.

“Huh?” Was all Hanamura could say as he watched this happen.

Todoroki, Asui, and Mineta covered their faces as the cloud of mixed spices rained down upon them. Ground pepper, chili powder, curry powder, cumin, paprika, and all sorts of various condiments floated down and contaminated the air around them.

As if acting on instinct, Hanamura inhaled and regretted it immediately. A burning sensation entered his lungs and he started coughing uncontrollably. Some of the flakes entered his eyes and he brought his hands up to rub them, but that only made the feeling worse. As he coughed all the air out of his lungs Hanamura took in another breath, but that only made him cough harder. It took all of three seconds for the chef to be utterly incapacitated by the powder attack.

“Now!” Asui commanded and the heroes sprang into action. Todoroki fired a wave Ice along the floor and managed to snag Hanamura’s hand freezing it to the wall. Mineta tossed his balls and this time managed to stick one right under Hanamura’s feet, sticking him down as he blindly fumbled around causing him to trip and fall flat on his bum.

“You thin yousso smart, do yah? Huh? *Koff*” Hanamura yelled. “Thin you got the bes’ o me?”

“What’s he saying?” Mineta asked. He used his free hand to cover his mouth and nose, so his voice sounded muffled.

“Don’t know, I can hardly understand him.”

“Graaaah!” Hanamura yelled and took hold of a knife. The heroes were immediately on guard. Even if he was blinded, he was still holding a deadly weapon. However, no one there could have predicted what Hanamura did next.

Using his free hand, Hanamura brought the knife down onto his wrist, cutting himself free from the Ice. Blood spurted from the wound and stained the floors crimson.

“What the-“ Todoroki was shocked but didn’t waste a second in recovering, he was about to activate his quirk again before Hanamura threw the knife at him. It spun around in midair before colliding into a wall of Ice Todoroki made between them, cracking it and sticking deep inside.

Meanwhile, Hanamura pulled off his shoe and ran across kitchen clutching his bleeding wrist. He ran away from the heroes, pulled open a cabinet door, and stepped inside.

“H-he ran in there!” Mineta pointed.

“After him!”

Asui leapt and landed in front of the closed cabinet. Todoroki and Mineta followed, holding their breaths while going through the area where they scattered the powder. Their eyes stung but most of the spices have dissipated or already fell to the ground.

The three heroes arrived at the front of the cabinet and stared at one another.

“Is he… in there?” Mineta asked the obvious question. They seemed to have Hanamura cornered, didn’t they?

“I’m gonna open it.” Asui decided and they nodded. She bent down, grabbed hold of the handle, and yanked it open. There was nothing inside.

“Nothing? There’s really nothing in there?” Todoroki asked as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Mineta crawled inside. Since he was similar in stature to Hanamura he was able to fit easily. He tapped the walls, the floors but nothing happened.

“We… we lost him?!?!” Mineta couldn’t contain his outrage. They had Hanamura on the ropes. They nullified his quirk and was just about to capture him, and all of a sudden, he disappeared. “No, this place must have a secret to it. Some kind of hidden button or activation command. If he escaped through here, then we can-“

“He ran, Mineta. We can’t chase after him.” Asui reminded. “The only reason we fought in the first place was because we didn’t believe he was going to let us go without one. But this is different.”

“Asui’s right. You saw what he was capable of even as he was cornered.” Todoroki looked back and they observed the severed hand left inside of the Ice as well as the trail of blood that led its way to the cabinet. Upon closer inspection, the trail cut off right at the inside of the cabinet. As if it weren’t already clear that the cabinet was used to escape, they now had irrefutable evidence.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

“So, what now?” Mineta was the first to speak up. “Do we just… go?”

Asui looked from him to Todoroki. “There’s nothing more we can do here. We’ve got to report back to-“

They suddenly heard it. A gentle tapping sound, that seems to occur in twos. It grew louder and louder. They turned their to look at where the sound is coming from. It seemed to be behind a wall.

With non-verbal commands, the immediately went back into battle mode. Each student readied their respective quirk as the footsteps got closer and closer. The wall thumped slightly, and it opened, revealing a secret passageway that blended seamlessly into the wall.

A woman stepped outside. She had a kind and plump face and was looking around in a daze. She seemed to have noticed the heroes after a bit, despite being right in front of her the whole time.

“Oh my, are you dear Teruteru’s friends?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh, the chapter is finally here. This chapter went through not one, not two, but THREE whole rewrites before I was finally satisfied. Well, it seemed to have turned out okay, what do you think?
> 
> Teruteru’s quirk. Did anyone guess it right? A strong nose would be helpful in a cooking environment, wouldn’t it. You might have noticed that Teruteru was Sniffing whenever he needed information on someone or if he wanted to predict their moves. Additionally, if you go back all the way to part 1, you might have noticed that he was being compared to Hound Dog from UA by the girls.  
> 
> 
> Next chapter: Back at the Future Foundation we check in on Bakugou's status


	9. Chapter 9

With a fist curled under the side of his face, Bakugou grabbed a folder and opened it. He flipped through it quickly, eyes darting from page to page as he skimmed the information that was inside it.

“Ultimate Pianist… Ultimate Detective… Ultimate Supreme Leader?” Bakugou raised an eyebrow and examined the page that caught his interest. The one picture they had showed some short teenager in a weird white costume. The description for the boy’s talent didn’t seem to elucidate things either. He quickly checked the cover of the folder he was examining.

“The 53rd class…” He muttered while reading. “The one right now is… the 78th, I think? So this was around 25 years ago.”

25 years ago. Bakugou hadn’t even been born then and Hope’s Peak had already been on its 53rd year. He felt slightly awed when thinking about it. It was a long time, all things considered. 25 years was longer than Bakugou had been alive. He wondered what he would be doing in 25 years’ time from now. Before the Tragedy, he was certain that he’d become the number one hero in less than half that time. Now, he wasn’t so sure. He could still achieve that goal, possibly. Maybe. It’d just take a bit more work.

Doubt began to gnaw at him, but he shrugged it off and quickly went back to skimming. Only stopping again when he read the title of “Ultimate Assassin” and scoffed. Hope’s Peak really didn’t give a fuck about even pretending to care about laws, did they? And that was the reason they were in this whole mess to begin with.

Bakugou sighed and moved to replace the folder with another one. Right now he was nearing the end of his investigation. At some point he switched from working with Yukizome to find out more about Kamukura to investigating Hope’s Peak instead. When he told her this, Yukizome recommended him to Koichi Kizakura, who was… pretty okay, all things considered. He told him what he was up to and Kizakura just handed over all the files he had, no questions asked.

Now, he was going through the data of past Hope’s Peak graduates. He didn’t expect to find anything important or interesting from here, but he wanted to be thorough.

Bakugou began to pull out another folder when he accidentally knocked one of the folders down and onto the floor. Pages spilled out in a wild mess.

“Shit.” He swore and bent over to pick them up. Reaching for one of the photos, he blinked and suddenly stopped. He narrowed his eyes while studying the person in the picture. Bakugou’s eyes widened in surprise. “Hey, isn’t that…”

* * *

“-are mostly good over here. I’ve been over to Mitsuki’s a couple of times for tea. Well, it’s not like we have much else to do around here. Oh, I’ve been taking up sewing again. The materials are cheap and so I thought ‘why not’ and just started to try my hand again.”

Midoriya smiled as he held his cell phone close to his ear. “Really? That’s great mom.”

“Oh, and about Teruteru’s mother…”

“Yeah?” Midoriya sounded hopeful. It had been several weeks since Asui and the others squared off against Hanamura. Apparently, even though the chef himself escaped, they were able to secure his mother, who he had been keeping prisoner in a makeshift bedroom above the restaurant.

Though when they say “keeping her prisoner” that really only scratched the surface of the problem. When they questioned her about her connection to Ultimate Despair, the poor woman had no idea what they were talking about. Sakakura had almost lost his temper so All-Might decided to step in. The woman barely reacted to the hero apart from a concerned look at his skeletal frame. This was also odd considering this form of All-Might had been one of the public faces of the Future Foundation since the Tragedy.

This brought to life another problem. She has never heard of the Future Foundation either.

So she wasn’t just denying her connection to Ultimate Despair. She genuinely had no idea that her son was a part of the wicked organization that ended the world. Nor, and this was the most distressing part, that she was at his mercy for the past ten months or so.

It was Seiko Kimura, the former Ultimate Pharmacist and leader of the 6th division, who figured out what was wrong. Analyzing the empty cups and plates that Hanamura’s mother had when she came down, she found the existence of a strange chemical in one of the cups. It was a type of plant that had the ability to cause those who ingest it to forget information. It seemed that it was being served to her as tea every morning in order to keep her docile.

The interrogation was called off. Her memories were simply too scrambled to get any useful information out of her. So, she was branded as a person of interest and was cautiously placed under their care.

“She’s doing well, holding out alright.” Inko Midoriya said but there was a brief hitch in her voice that signalled to Izuku that she wasn’t quite done yet. “She’s been asking about Teruteru again, and where exactly she is now.”

“Oh…” It was all Midoriya could say at the news.

Memory was a tricky thing. One could only wonder if a person could go through an entire year of being Despair’s prisoner and come out with no permanent repercussions.

Munakata had told her what had happened. How her son had aided in causing the Tragedy. Midoriya wasn’t there, but he could only imagine how it went down the first time, what that woman’s reactions might have been. Now he wondered if this was better in some way.

Midoriya curled his fist in anger. Ultimate Despair, just what lengths were they willing to go for their, well… _despair_? That they would cause so much pain and anguish to even their loved ones was incomprehensible to someone like Midoriya.

“But I think she’s getting better.” Inko interrupted her son’s thoughts. “I’ve visited her a few times now. She seems to be less zoned out and better at focusing. I think she just needs a little time, and she’ll be just fine.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Midoriya’s words were empty. He didn’t have the same belief that his mother had it seems.

“Well, that’s enough about me. What about you? How are you doing in your… student-hero thing?” She asked, uncertain of the exact title she should be using.

“Ah, I’m fine.” Midoriya said simply. There wasn’t much to say, in all honesty. So, for lack of a more detailed response, Midoriya opted to go with a simple “fine,” meaning he has more or less settled into a routine.

Wake up, go to class, eat lunch, go on patrols, eat dinner, sleep. Or, on the other schedule, he would go on patrols in the morning and go to class in the afternoon. Such was the life for a hero student working for the Future Foundation.

There really wasn’t all that much excitement. Occasionally, one group might get into a few tough scrapes. But life and death situations, like the times they encountered Ultimate Despair, are few and far between.

“Oh… that’s good.” Inko was clearly hoping for a more detailed explanation but decided to leave it. “When are you going to get a break, do you know yet?”

“Oh, um… No, Aizawa said that they were still discussing it between the division heads.” Midoriya reported. “The idea was that they’d wait until despair activity died down a little. Tengan is predicting that might happen maybe two or three months from now.”

“I see, I see. But the student heroes are just on patrols, aren’t they? They shouldn’t really need that many there at all times, do they?”

“Ah well, it’s because we do the regular patrols that the actual heroes and agents can go and fight against Ultimate Despair like they do. Without us, they’d have to go on the patrols to.”

“That makes sense, I guess. It’s just been so long since I’ve seen you. And you must be getting bogged down with schoolwork and such, right? Are you eating okay? Sleeping well?”

“Yeah, I am.” Midoriya answered. He would’ve liked a break as well, but he knew that wouldn’t be in the cards for him, or any of his other classmates, just yet.

“Oh, and you haven’t encountered more Ultimate Despair, have you? When I heard that you met not just one, but _two_ members of Ultimate Despair, I just about fainted.”

“O-oh well, no I haven’t. And they weren’t really that dangerous. It was just a little bit scary.”

“Not that dangerous? I heard about it all from Mitsuki. The first guy, he could fire Lasers that burned up to 1000 degrees from his fingertips.”

“A-ah well…” Internally, Midoriya cursed Bakugou. He must have been the one who told his mother about the Drifter fight, not knowing or not caring that the two mothers would gossip between them. “It wasn’t all _that_ bad… Like, he could only fire it every few seconds, and his aim was pretty bad too. And we had a pretty big advantage up on him too, fighting in close quarters like that.”

“And the other one?” Inko followed up.

“Oh, Owari? She was… she was just a high school student. Like us. And there were three of us against only one of her, so it wasn’t too bad.” Midoriya swallowed. Although he was making it sound like Owari was an easier opponent than Drifter had been, the opposite was the truth. Midoriya had felt that Owari was a far more dangerous opponent than Drifter, but he didn’t want his mother to worry, so he told a little lie. Just a small one, so that she wouldn’t worry. That was fine, right?

“Well alright. I’ll take your word for it.” Inko said. “Um, is there anything else that you wanted to talk about?”

“I’m good.”

“Then, I’ll call you next week, okay?”

“Yeah, until next week.” Midoriya said and they disconnected the call. As soon as he did, he slumped down in his chair and let out a heavy sigh. Surely, it was Bakugou that told his mom about the fight. Maybe Mitsuki had more confidence in her son, but Midoriya’s own mother tended to fret about the little things. Imagining her son fighting against potentially deadly opponents wouldn’t be good for her heart.

Midoriya looked around. He was in his room at the Future Foundation headquarters. Well, it was technically still his room at Heights Alliance. But UA was integrated into the Future Foundation, and so it was probably more accurate to say that this was his room at the Future Foundation.

Weekends worked differently than they used to when he was still attending UA. Although there were no classes, he still had to go on patrols. This meant he really only had half a day to catch up on any school work that he didn’t quite get the first time. Being understanding to their current predicament, the teachers at UA started to schedule fewer and fewer tests, relying more on short quizzes to promote regular studying habits.

 _Well, not that that really matters anyway_. Midoriya thought. _Now, wasn’t there something I had to do?_

* * *

Midoriya opened the door to All-Might’s office and stepped in. There, All-Might and Bakugou were already seated. They looked at him as he entered. He wasn’t late, but it still felt awkward to be the last one to arrive.

Bakugou glanced at him and grunted, then took out a large binder that was positively brimming with papers and notes. It made a soft thump sound as he placed it on the desk.

“This is the result of my investigation.” He said and crossed his arms. The other two looked at the binder then at Bakugou.

“Um, and are you telling us to read all of this, Kacchan?” Midoriya asked sheepishly.

“Fuck no! I was just gathering my thoughts!” Bakugou exploded. “Okay, whatever. In short, Hope’s Peak Academy was a corrupt, stinking pile of shit that hid its wrongdoings from the public then shook them down for as much money as they could before collapsing in on itself. Leaving nothing but destruction and mayhem in their wake.”

“…” All-Might and Midoriya were silent for a while as they absorbed this nugget of information. Finally, one of them spoke up.

“Um, and what does that have to do with Kamukura?” Midoriya asked.

“It has everything to do with Kamukura!” Bakugou insisted. Meeting the others’ blank stares, he growled and started flipping through the binder. “Okay, first off. Why did they go through with something as risky and expensive as the Kamukura Project in the first place?”

“Why…?” All-Might repeated.

Bakugou stopped on a certain page and pushed the binder towards Midoriya and All-Might. Craning their necks, they observed what was written. It was mostly a bunch of newspaper headlines.

‘Funding Cut for Hope’s Peak Academy Once Again’

‘Hope’s Peak Academy Under Fire in Midst of Quirk Debates’

‘Citizens Critique How Much Money is Spent on Hope’s Peak Each Year’

“Are these… articles criticizing Hope’s Peak?” All-Might wondered aloud.

“Pretty much.” Bakugou nodded. “Apparently, once quirks started becoming more and more commonplace, people started caring less and less about Hope’s Peak. I mean, it was still a pretty good school and all.” Bakugou flipped the page and pointed to some pictures of charts and numbers. “But public opinion cared more about quirks and less about the whole talent thing.”

“And that’s what convinced them to do something as crazy as the Kamukura Project?” Midoriya asked.

“Bingo. They even wrote a whole manifesto about it.” Bakugou flipped to a different page. There was a large body of text in a small font. Just staring at it made Midoriya’s eyes spin. Did Kacchan seriously read through all of this? “Basically, they wanted to show this creation of theirs off to the world and declare to everyone that talent is superior to quirks so that they can reclaim their former glory. And get more funding from the government.” He added.

“Would something like that really work?” All-Might questioned. “At the end of the day, it’s still human experimentation.”

Bakugou shrugged. “Steering Committee thought it would work. And Hope’s Peak Academy has a pretty big track record of doing shady shit. I mean, just look at this.” He flipped all the way to somewhere near the back of the binder. There were several pictures of mugshots and police reports.

“No less than 13 serial killers graduated from Hope’s Peak. And that’s not including all the children of various criminal backgrounds they sheltered.”

“Who’s that?” Midoriya pointed to a teen with long, black hair and a mask covering his mouth.

“Creepy ass serial killer.” Bakugou explained. “Wanted to kill women so that he can send them to the afterlife to be with his dead sister.”

Midoriya shuddered. He looked at the man in the picture and admitted that the first thing that comes to mind was indeed _creepy_. All-Might, on the other hand, noticed something about Bakugou’s words.

“Er, young Bakugou. You said that 13 serials killers _graduated_ from Hope’s Peak. Is there a reason that you used such a phrase?”

“You caught that, huh? Yeah, those guys were only arrested until _after_ they graduated the school. You know why?”

Midoriya and All-Might shook their heads.

“Because once they graduated, Hope’s Peak stopped covering for them!” Bakugou accentuated his explanation by slamming his hand down on the desk. “They bribed cops, provided fake alibis, falsified evidence, etc. Just so that they could keep studying their students’ talents. But once they left the school, they stopped caring for them. Why? Because they weren’t useful to them anymore!”

“I see. I never knew that Hope’s Peak was at the heart of such corruption.” All-Might admitted. “I had always thought that they were a respectable school.”

“Well, it was mostly the Steering Committee.” Bakugou said. “Each generation of them are the same. Power-hungry and greedy, only caring about the school and no one else.”

“And? What else did you find out about Kamukura?” Midoriya asked, bringing them back on topic.

“Well, I took a look at his talents. And fuck, they really weren’t kidding when they said he had every talent.” Bakugou flipped towards the middle of the binder. There were a lot of words and complicated diagrams and charts. “Couldn’t understand how any of this shit actually _worked_ though. I even went to Recovery Girl’s and even she couldn’t understand most of it.”

“It… does look complicated.” All-Might said as he stared down at the records. Although his eyes were sunken, it still looked like they were threatening to pop out of his skull.

“What about… The Ultimate Lucky Student?” Midoriya asked. “Was that on here?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. I mean, I think I remember something like that. Hold on.” Bakugou went through a few pages. “Here it is.”

Midoriya leaned in to get a closer look. He regretted asking about it immediately. “What… what is this saying…?”

“I can hardly believe that this is written in Japanese.” All-Might concurred.

“Yeah, bunch of technical bullshit more or less.” Bakugou summed up his findings. “Well, there’s more important stuff here.”

As he said so, Bakugou flipped to what seemed to be a memo between the headmaster of Hope’s Peak, Jin Kirigiri, and the Steering Committee. It detailed Kirigiri’s proposal to transfer Kamukura to UA High and enrol him into the Hero Course.

In short, it seemed that Kirigiri believed that sending the results of the Steering Committee’s labours to UA was the best next step for their plan. Since heroes were looked up upon in modern society, catching the public’s attention would be easier if Kamukura obtained a hero title and climbed the rankings. Additionally, since Principal Nedzu owed him a favour, it would be relatively easy to enrol this person with no official background, legal documents, or history into one of the most successful hero academies in the world.

The Steering Committee had responded to Kirigiri’s suggestion by asking if he was intending on separating Kamukura from them in order for him and Nedzu to coerce the boy to their own goals. To this, Kirigiri simply responded that they were free to ignore his suggestion and do whatever they were planning on doing. But he needed a decision quickly as the start of the next school year was approaching soon.

The Steering Committee folded and went with Kirigiri’s idea, much to no one in the room’s surprise considering they already knew how the conversation would end.

“So that was how Kamukura got into UA.” All-Might mused. “I do recall Principal Nedzu saying something along those lines at that meeting a few weeks back.”

“That’s right. And there are a bunch of forged documents made for Kamukura in case anything happened.” Bakugou pointed out. “They falsified most of this shit, but I’m guessing some of them had some basis in reality.”

“He said in class that his birthday was January 1st.” Midoriya noted. “I guess we don’t know if that’s true or not.”

Bakugou grunted, then skipped ahead a few pages. “That was the start of the conversations between Kirigiri and the Steering Committee. It’s mostly politics and them arguing with one another about how Kamukura’s being treated and shit. Over here is where it gets relevant. This is what Munakata talked about during that meeting: The Tragedy of Hope’s Peak Academy.”

Those words captured Midoriya and All-Might’s attention. The only time they had ever heard mention of the incident was when Munakata showed them that disturbing footage from the security cameras of Kamukura pushing a student onto a running chainsaw. They leaned in close to examine the evidence that Bakugou had gathered. There were several disturbing photographs of the classroom where the crime took place, and the brutalized victims lying on the floor in pools of pink blood.

“Hey, who’s this?” Midoriya pointed at a photograph. “He doesn’t look…”

“Dead? That’s cause he’s not.” Bakugou guessed Midoriya’s question. “Soshun Murasame, he’s the sole survivor of the incident, not counting Kamukura that is.”

“And what happened to him?” All-Might wondered. “Depending on his testimony, we may be able to figure out why Kamukura was at the scene of the incident.”

“Unfortunately no.” Bakugou denied. He flipped a page and there was a photograph of the boy lying in a bed with his eyes closed. Several wires were attached to his head and body. “Murasame sustained a serious head injury and went into an unresponsive comatose state. Then, several weeks later, he was murdered.”

“Murdered?!”

Bakugou nodded, his face grim. “No one knew why, if the correspondence between the headmaster the Steering Committee are to be believed. Some unknown third party did this, and they don’t know who that person could be.”

“Kamu-“ All-Might started to say but halted. Gathering himself, he asked. “Could Kamukura have…?”

Midoriya stared at All-Might in disbelief while Bakugou shook his head. “Not possible, Kamukura was at UA at the time.”

“So then, who could have done it?”

“They don’t know. The lead suspect was the person who was in charge of Murasame’s treatment, Yasuke Matsuda. He had the biggest opportunity considering no other student was allowed to go see him, but they couldn’t find a motive. Also, he died too, under mysterious circumstances just a few days later.”

Bakugou pointed to a picture of an unrecognizable, bloody mess that was apparently meant to be Matsuda. Midoriya and All-Might both made a face at the sight.

“So, we have no clues then.” Midoriya said. “No other leads on what happened that day?”

“Nope. And since the Steering Committee did their best to make sure no information leaked, they did their investigation without the police. All while making sure Kamukura had no connection to the incident.”

“But… if Kamukura really _was_ innocent then it’s fine, right?” Midoriya asked. “I mean, it won’t matter if it was covered up or not…”

Bakugou gave Midoriya a strange look, then continued. “The very last thing I found that I thought was important is this shit here.” He flipped ahead a couple of pages and stopped on a picture of a large crowd gathering outside of Hope’s Peak Academy.

“The Parade…” All-Might muttered. “A riot organized by the Hope’s Peak Academy’s Reserve Course. They protested Hope’s Peak’s exclusionary policies of only allowing in talented students into the Main Course and had apparently gone on for months before they received any sort of media attention. Once they did, it all ended with the Reserve Course Mass Suicide.”

“That’s right.” Bakugou said. “But here’s something that people didn’t know. The reason the Reserve Course started the protest was because of a leaked email… an email about Izuru Kamukura.”

“About Kamukura? What did it say?” Asked Midoriya.

“Ah, before that you need to know what the Reserve Course is all about.” Bakugou said and explained why the Reserve Course was created in the first place. He talked about the money-grubbing ways of the Steering Committee and how they sold the prestige of being able to attend Hope’s Peak Academy.

“What a deplorable way of making money.” All-Might commented.

“Yeah, so that’s the thing. The entire Kamukura Project was created using that money. This wouldn’t normally piss people off so much, but they also included the same thing we were shown by Munakata: the video of Kamukura pushing that guy to his death. Then people were fucking pissed.”

Midoriya perked up at this. “So, Kamukura was just being used. They used him to get the Reserve Course riled up so that they’d start protesting Hope’s Peak Academy. That means Kamukura didn’t do anything wrong!”

All-Might and Bakugou stared at Midoriya. They wanted to say something but couldn’t find the right words. Coughing slightly, All-Might spoke up.

“I suppose we still need to find out what happened in that video in the first place.” He reminded the boy. “As well as actually finding Kamukura, wherever he may be at this time.”

“Right! When we find Kamukura we can just talk to him and ask him what was up with that video. Then we can explain things to Munakata and Tengan and get his status as suspicious revoked.” Midoriya agreed, prompting another round of stares.

“…Right. Well, that’s all I’ve got.” Bakugou said as he closed the large binder.

“You’ve done well, young Bakugou. I feel that we’ve gained a much greater understanding into Izuru Kamukura’s situation now.”

“Yeah, thanks Kacchan!” Midoriya agreed. Bakugou scoffed at the two and looked away, seemingly unappreciative of their praise. Then, he looked up as if he just remembered something.

“Oh yeah, Deku. You’re close with that girl that started working here, right?” Bakugou asked.

“Hm? You mean…”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Now get this…”

* * *

“Hey, Bakugou? You there? If you’re not coming, we’ll leave you behind.”

“Hold your fucking horses, Sparkplug! I’m coming!” Bakugou said as he opened the door to the changing room. He strode out pridefully wearing his hero costume.

“Whoa, it’s been awhile since we see you in costume.” Kaminari commented. “Man, time flies by fast, huh?”

“Yeah and look at these gauntlets.” Jirou poked one of the grenade gauntlets on Bakugou’s arms. “I thought they’d be all dusty after not having been used in such a long time. But it’s actually shining. Were you up late last night polishing it?”

“Shut up Ears, before I blast you.” Bakugou wrenched his arm away from the girl and growled at her. “And I’m not stupid enough not to perform regular maintenance on my costume.”

“O-oh right, yeah. That would be a pretty smart thing to do, huh?” Kaminari looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of his head.

“Your stupid discs better not break while we’re out there!”

“We’ll be fine, it’s just the Monokuma right?” Kaminari said. “We’ve all got our Hacking Guns.”

“’Just Monokuma.’ I never thought we’d be able to say something like that, but here we are.” Jirou commented.

“Hmmph, quit talking about the shitty Monokuma. What I’m looking for is Ultimate Despair. I get suspended and Deku finds another Ultimate Despair? What kind of luck is that? I just need to find one and capture them and I’ll be one up on him.”

“Hah, yeah right. There’s no way you’ll find an Ultimate Despair the very first patrol you do after you get back.” Jirou scoffed.

“Yeah, and especially not where we’re going.” Kaminari added.

“Shut the fuck up and let’s get going already.” Bakugou commanded. “Besides, if we do find an Ultimate Despair, I’ll be ready for them. Mark my words.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Narrator voice: he was not ready for them
> 
> It’s your favourite time of the week again. Can you guess which one of our favourite students from Class 77th Bakugou is going to face? I’ve given you… a few hints. Here or there. I guess what you should ask yourself is: Since Bakugou is so convinced he’s ready to face anyone, who would be the person he’d be least ready to face?
> 
> In any case, the V3 cast is… mentioned in brief passing. As the (heh) 53rd class of Hope’s Peak Academy. They’ve graduated long before the story took place, meaning they won’t be relevant in the story at all. 
> 
> Wonder what Bakugou told Midoriya. Guess you'll find out later.
> 
> Next chapter: Bakugou encounters an Ultimate Despair


	10. Chapter 10

“Haah… haa…” The girl breathed softly through her mouth. Trying her best not to make too much noise. Why? Why was this happening? She didn’t understand. They had all split up, went their separate ways. It wasn’t the cleanest of breakups but they all mostly agreed that it was for the best. That was before the Tragedy. She had already found another band since then and had been performing with them ever since. The Tragedy had hindered that but not more than it did every other aspect of their lives. When her old band member appeared out of the blue to see her, she didn’t think it would end up like this.

She looked at where their bodies were lying, crumpled and in a bloody mess on the floor. They had been murdered in front of her, and their bodies were just left there, slowly rotting away. The culprit having deemed it not even worth her time to clean the mess up. She could still see the looks of terror on their faces as they died. Their remains had been brutalized to be almost completely unrecognizable, but she could still their dying screams in her mind.

“…Ah!” A tiny squeak escaped the girl. She bit her lip in an effort not to raise it to a full on scream. Wrenching her head away from the pile, she watched as the needle went in and out of her hand, the thread following loosely along as it snaked its way through her skin.

At certain points, she was already numb, so she didn’t feel any pain even when punctured. At other parts, however, the sharp jab of the needle was so excruciating she felt that she was going to faint from the pain.

Isn’t this what happened in the olden days? This was how they tested for witches. The inquisitors would blindfold you and jab a needle in your body every which way until they’d find a spot where you felt no pain from the needle. They said this spot was known as the “Devil’s Spot,” and was where the Devil himself had touched you and granted you an immunity to pain. In reality, people’s skin just started growing numb from all the poking, so everyone was eventually convicted regardless. It was little more than an excuse for a bit of torture.

“Mmm!” The girl let out a muffled scream as the needle went through her hand again. Tears flowed down her cheek like a waterfall, and she couldn’t even move her arm to wipe it. Her arms, legs, shoulders, neck, and head were all held down by people. At least, she assumed they were people. Their faces weren’t visible. They were wearing the Monokuma helmets that lower ranked members of Ultimate Despair wore. Does that mean that her old friend was a high ranking member of Ultimate Despair now if she had this many people under her control?

“A-ah…” Another squeal escaped her lips. She suddenly felt the girl who had been kneeling at her heels, working diligently with the needle look up at her.

“Hm? Did you say something?” She asked cheerfully. Her smile was bright, just as bright as it had been before the Tragedy, before they all stopped working together. But her eyes… As they stared into each other’s faces, the dark, manic swirls of despair twisted and curved in her sclera. It was mesmerizing to some degree.

“Look, I know it might be a _teeeeensy_ bit uncomfortable for you right now, but you need to endure it! After all, won’t it be too bad if you’re the only one not properly prepared for the show? The others have all worked hard so that they’re fired up and raring to go.”

A little uncomfortable? This was more than just a _little_ bit uncomfortable. Her hand hurt so bad it felt like it was going to fall off. Actually, if she chopped it off it might actually be less painful than keeping it connected. And what was the other thing she said? Wait…

“Others…?” The girl mumbled. She felt like she already knew where this was going, but she wanted to be sure.

“Yup! The others! Obviously the others had been gathered here too! It wouldn’t be a reunion without everyone, right?” The girl beamed.

Of course. She had been talking about a reunion. Logically speaking, that meant that all members of her old band would be together. “Are they… like you…?”

The girl tilted her head. “Hm? What do you mean…? Oh! Do you mean if they’re just as excited about the concert? Eh, no. They seemed pretty down in the dumps for some reason. But that’s probably just the excitement of being together once again. They’ll be fine once we hit the stage.”

Does that mean the others aren’t with Ultimate Despair? She supposed that was a good thing, at least.

“Aaaaand there! All done!” The girl announced. As a finishing touch, she pulled the thread that was stretching in and out of her captive’s hands taut.

“GAAHH!” She screamed. She shouldn’t have screamed. She knew what would happen if she screamed and she just did that. It was out of her control; the pain had just been unbearable. But now, the other girl was looking at her with bright, red eyes. Eyes that were swirling with despair.

“Ah, you’re not supposed to do that, you know?” She said and grabbed one of her hands. She held it up to her face for her to see. Her eyes bulged. She didn’t want to see what her hand had become, but there it was. Threads were criss-crossing in and out of her skin, sealing it into a tight fist shape. In the middle, she held a drumstick. “Your job is to play the drums. That’s why you have to hold this.”

“I-I’m sorry…” She whispered, but her mouth was clamped shut by two fingers. The girl’s fingernails dug into the top and bottom of her mouth. Quietly, she held up the needle with her other hand.

“Sorry. Looks like we have a bit more prep work to do.” Slowly, she brought the needle up to the girl’s lips. “Now, just stay still and-“

“No! No, please don’t do this!” She kicked and screamed and thrashed and yelled in her seat. She freed her arm, but it was grabbed again. The grip on her body grew even tighter and no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t twist herself out of their hold. After several seconds of violent flailing, she lost all strength in her body and was breathing heavily.

“Well, let’s get started, shall we?” Ignoring her outburst, the other girl brought the needle closer to her face with one hand and clamped down on her mouth with the other. Her tears flowed freely, as she wasn’t even allowed to turn her head.

* * *

Massu Aizari was a quiet town with very little to talk about. Even from before the Tragedy, it had been quiet and humble despite the hustle and bustle of the areas surrounding it. After the Tragedy, though crime rates generally surged as a result of the instability, Massu had mostly remained the same, quiet town it always had.

As such, it had seemed prudent to Aizawa that this was the place to send Bakugou after his suspension, to ease him back into working in the field. Bakugou didn’t appreciate being coddled, and he said as such to Aizawa, claiming he was being given a ‘baby mission’ and demanded a different assignment.

Needless to say, Aizawa did not give in.

According to Kaminari and Jirou, who had each been here twice before, it was going to be relatively unlikely to see any action here. And they mostly just walked around town before their time was up and they had to go back.

Kaminari had told him to just enjoy the experience. There were usually tons of people around who were happy to have Future Foundation heroes to come and look after them. And they’d get plenty of people waving at them and greeting them as they walked around. It would sort of be like what their lives could have been if the Tragedy hadn’t happened.

At least, that’s what he had promised.

“So? Where are all the people?” Bakugou asked grumpily while his two partners looked confused as well. There wasn’t a single person in sight. It was almost as if they’ve stumbled into a ghost town.

“Um, I’m not sure.” Answered Kaminari hesitantly. “This place wasn’t always this empty, was it Jirou?”

“No. I’m finding this strange as well.” Jirou commented.

“Maybe you took us to the wrong place.” Bakugou suggested angrily. “How many times did you say you came here before?”

“We’ve both been stationed here twice before.” Jirou said. “Though, not with each other.”

“So, with the town being as empty as it is, it’s really suspicious, right? No, it’s totally suspicious!” Kaminari said excitedly. “This _has_ to be the work of Ultimate Despair!”

“Weren’t you the one saying we’d never encounter Ultimate Despair here earlier?” Bakugou reminded him. “You changed tune pretty fast.”

“That was because this place was always so… so quiet, you know? I’d never have imagined anything bad could have happened here. But look around you.” Kaminari gestured. “Clearly something had to have happened.”

“Yeah, I’m with Kaminari.” Jirou declared. She was already taking the phone out of her pocket. “We should call the Future Foundation and-“

“Fuck that!” Bakugou denied. “If there’s an Ultimate Despair here, then you can be sure as hell that I’m going to take them down!”

“And just _how_ are you going to do that if you don’t even know where to look for them?” Jirou gestured wildly with her arms. “Look around you. There’s no sign of life for the entire kilometre. Maybe more.”

“Yeah, it’s not like we’ll just stumble on some clue that will _magically_ tell us where everyone- Ack!” As Kaminari was talking a piece of paper flew by, carried by the wind, and landed square on his face. Bakugou and Jirou stared at him in severe disappointment as he peeled the paper off.

“That _better_ not be a clue…” Jirou muttered, her fingers caressing her forehead. Kaminari frowned as he read what was on the paper.

“It seems to be a flyer of some kind. It’s advertising a concert happening over at the Massu Events Centre.”

“A… concert?” Bakugou repeated, unsure of what to make of it.

“Um, it also says it’s free and open to everyone.” Kaminari continued reading. “Heroes are welcome and it’s an event that celebrates hope and rekindling of friendship. It’s going to run for about three hours and it’s starting… oh, soon.”

Bakugou and Jirou digested this information. Jirou noticed something and spoke up. “Who’s playing?”

“Huh?”

“Who’s the people that are going to be performing at this concert? Does it not say? And who’s hosting it?” Jirou asked.

“Uh, no it doesn’t.” Kaminari said. He handed the paper over to Jirou. “This is all that’s on it.”

“So we have a clue now. You two know where this events centre place is, right? Let’s go!” Bakugou commanded, much to his teammates’ dismay. “What?”

“Okay, let’s say that this _is_ a clue. Let’s say that Ultimate Despair did something and everyone in the town is being held at the events centre or something.” Jirou said. “Then what? We just charge in? Charge in with our quirks, rescue everyone and take down Ultimate Despair while we’re at it? That’s definitely not plausible and you know it.”

“…” Bakugou was silent while Jirou continued.

“And that’s not including the fact that maybe everyone in the town would be a hostage of Ultimate Despair. We’re definitely not going to win if we just go in there with no information.”

“But how do we know that it’s Ultimate Despair’s doing?” Kaminari asked. “Couldn’t everyone just have gone to this concert because they liked music?”

“Look around you. There’s literally no one else here.” Jirou argued. “Would you believe that absolutely _everyone_ in town went to the event? With the flyer being as vague as it is, someone must have been skeptical or too disinterested to go.”

“Well, yeah but… what if they all really wanted to go?” Kaminari asked. Jirou raised an eyebrow to which Kaminari hastily added. “I mean, pretty much everywhere, people are starved for entertainment, right? The internet’s pretty much completely down. So what are people going to do besides go outside and stuff?”

“Still, to think that _everyone_ would-“

“Not at all! I mean, I guess it depends on how long the poster’s been around. But I’m willing to bet that people were talking about this for a while. This poster is all wrinkly too, so it must have been here for a while.” Kaminari pointed at the poster in her hands and Jirou inspected it carefully. He was right, it did look like it was printed out a while ago. “So, it’s not necessarily Ultimate Despair’s doing right?”

“You may have a point…” Jirou thought.

“And if it really was Ultimate Despair that took everyone, why would they advertise it? No one would be around to see it.” Kaminari added.

“Maybe they were hoping to lure in a hero.” Jirou argued.

“Lure in… with this?” Kaminari pointed at the flyer indignantly. “It’s really just a crudely made poster. It can hardly be called the most tantalizing of bait.”

“And yet, we’re still arguing about whether we’re going or not.”

“Look, all I’m saying is that there’s nothing suspicious.” Kaminari smiled. “We’ll just go over, see that everyone’s enjoying themselves and we can patrol the place as usual. Sound good?”

Jirou frowned. She looked down at the poster then back at Bakugou, who hadn’t said anything. “What do you think?”

“I say we’re going.” He decided immediately.

Jirou sighed and stuffed the flyer into her pocket. “Fine, but don’t blame me if this all goes south.”

* * *

The faint sounds of pop music could be heard through the walls. Pushing open a door, the three heroes walked into the concert hall. Except for the stage, the room was pitch dark. They stood by the aisles while their attentions were focussed on the performance.

On the stage were four people. The lead singer stood at the centre of the stage and was playing a guitar. At her sides were a backup guitarist and a bassist. Behind her was the drummer. It was difficult to tell at this distance, but it seemed that the band performing was all girls.

“Whoa, seriously? It’s these guys! I can’t believe I get to see them play live.” Kaminari said. He turned to Jirou and Bakugou, who entered after him. “Aren’t you glad we came here?”

“Hm? This song sounds kind of familiar.” Bakugou mumbled. Barely audible under the sound of the music. “Are they famous or something?”

Even in the pitch darkness, Bakugou could see the jaws of both Jirou and Kaminari dropping at the same time out of the corner of his eye. Internally, he braced himself for what was about to come.

“Are you kidding?” Kaminari exclaimed. “They’re like, _only_ the biggest and most popular band of the past decade! They were a rising star that practically everyone knew the name of.”

“Though they split up a while back just as they were getting to the top of the popularity charts. No one really knew why.” Jirou added. “Guess this was what the poster meant by rekindling of friendship. Never would have guessed.”

Bakugou didn’t say a word. He didn’t appreciate being berated for not knowing something. Even if it _was_ just pop culture. He was probably more interested in heroes than bands at the time when they were popular anyway.

Perhaps reading his mind, Kaminari added. “Think of them like Hawks. They gained popularity faster than anyone before them, but unlike Hawks, stopped before they reached a significant ranking and broke up.”

Bakugou grunted, indicating he understood the analogy. He squinted at the stage. “Well, they do seem _kind of_ familiar, I guess…”

The song ended beautifully and softly faded into nothingness. As if acting on compulsion, the heroes started clapping, the sounds of their applause mixing in with that of the other members of the audience. That noise served as a simple reminder of their mission. That they had came here to check on the safety of the townspeople and ascertain their location.

Although they couldn’t see anyone clearly, the applause that came from every corner of the room told them everything they needed to know. The large auditorium was packed with people, and they were all clapping for the performance.

“Well, that settles that I guess.” Jirou shrugged. “What do you wanna do now? Should we stay or go or-“

“Hello everybodyyy!!!” A girl’s voice, amplified, carried across the room. Though he had been getting ready to leave, Bakugou turned sharply upon hearing it. The others looked at him in surprise, but he paid them no mind. He squinted at the stage with dizzying ferocity, as if he was trying to burn a laser through the performers. Kaminari wanted to remind him that his quirk didn’t involve laser vision, but the intensity of Bakugou’s stare threw him off.

“Bakugou? Something the matter?” Jirou asked in a concerned tone. Bakugou just shushed her and continued to stare at the stage.

“Aaaare you ready to rooooock?!” The girl’s amplified voice asked. To the hero students standing at the back of the room, they could hear her clear as day as if they were standing right next to her.

“That’s…” Bakugou searched his mind for the name that the voice belonged. Finally, the image of a colourful and cheery girl that he met during the Culture Festival flashed through his mind. “Ibuki Mioda!” He declared, feeling strangely triumphant at being able to recall her name.

Kaminari and Jirou simply stared at each other in blank disbelief.

“Uh. Yeah?” Jirou said carefully. “That’s the name of the lead singer of the band. What about it?”

“What?!” Bakugou hissed at Jirou, causing her to flinch slightly. At this, Kaminari went between them.

“Dude, what’s your problem?” He asked, slightly miffed at the way he treated Jirou.

“It’s…” He looked at the girl on the stage, then back to his partners. “It’s nothing. C’mon, let’s get the fuck outta here. We still gotta patrol the town or whatever.”

Bakugou started to walk off and Jirou and Kaminari looked at one another. They shrugged, indicating their mutual confusion of the events that just transpired and moved to catch up when Mioda started speaking once more.

“Yahoooo! Let’s all give it up for Ultimate Despair for allowing us to do this amazing event!”

“ **!** ”

“What did she just say?” The heroes stopped and turned around, glancing at each other amidst the clapping. Unless they were hearing things, they were certain that Mioda had just mentioned something about Ultimate Despair.

“She just said…”

“…Ultimate Despair, right…? Yeah, I knew I wasn’t hearing things.” They whispered between one another to make sure they were all on the same page.

Bakugou looked back from the exit and started to move towards the stage. He brushed past Jirou and Kaminari and headed right to the front of the theatre.

“Wait, Bakugou. We should-“

Cutting Jirou off, Bakugou fired an Explosion from both his palms. Lifting himself into the air and above the crowd of clapping patrons. He landed onstage directly in front of where Mioda was. Behind him, Kaminari and Jirou were hurrying to catch up.

“You can’t just jump onstage like that!” Kaminari yelled. He was wary of the audience potentially getting angry or trying to call him down, but they remained quiet. Not giving it much thought, they rushed to where Bakugou was.

On the stage, Bakugou was glaring at Mioda while she looked at him with a happy expression.

“Katsuki! You made it! Ibuki heard you guys talking down there, but she wasn’t sure if you were gonna come say hi.” There was something strange in what Mioda just said that the heroes couldn’t ignore.

“What do you mean you heard us-“

“ **Katsuki?!** ” Jirou and Kaminari shouted over Bakugou’s question. Their attentions focused on something different entirely.

“H-how are you on a first name basis with _the_ Ibuki Mioda?” Kaminari asked Bakugou, much to his annoyance.

“Oh, you don’t like me calling you Katsuki? Then… how about ‘Kacchan’ instead?” Mioda winked and snapped her fingers as she thought up a nickname. The heroes flinched.

“ **K-Kacchan?** ” Jirou and Kaminari expressed their utter disbelief at what was happening.

“Fuck no!” Bakugou said instinctively and Mioda looked a bit disappointed. She tilted her head and a frown tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Hmm, that’s a no-go huh? Well, Ibuki agrees. You don’t really look like a ‘Kacchan’ either.” Mioda admitted. “She’d have a hard time imagining someone calling you that.” She winked.

Below the stage, Jirou and Kaminari looked at one another. Though they were swamped with questions. They decided to figure out what was going on with Bakugou first.

“Sooo… Bakugou…” Kaminari started. “What’s the deal with you and Mioda? I mean…”

“There’s no fucking deal” Bakugou turned around and shouted. “We just met at the Culture Festival one time!”

“At the Culture Festival? You mean _UA’s_ Culture Festival?” Jirou asked incredulously. “She was there?”

“Yup yup!” Mioda said in response to Jirou’s question. “It was _super_ fun. Ibuki went with a couple of friends from my school. We had a great time! Oh! And your class’ performance was top notch. Especially your singing!”

“Y-you saw our performance?” Jirou asked, to which Mioda cheerfully nodded. Jirou blushed and she attempted to hide her face with her Earphones. “Ibuki Mioda saw our show and liked it!”

“So then, you met Bakugou at the Culture Festival?” Kaminari asked.

“Yup, that’s right! Ibuki found him moping around after your show, so she went to go cheer him up!”

“I was _not_ moping! And I definitely didn’t need cheering up!” Bakugou denied, a hint of a blush forming on his cheeks.

Ignoring his outburst, Kaminari quickly realized something. “Ooooh, so _that’s_ why we couldn’t find you afterwards. You were on a date.”

“It wasn’t a date!” The blush deepened, whether it was out of anger or embarrassment was unknown.

“Anyway, we should probably get out of your hair now.” Kaminari looked behind briefly into the darkened crowd. “You’ve got a whole show to do and we’re interrupting that.”

“Hm? Oh, them?” Mioda tilted her head. Pulling a device out of her pocket, she pressed a button on it. “These guys are more like props. The real show is you guys.”

“H-holy crap…” The heroes were stunned. Apparently, the device that Mioda held was one that controlled the building’s lights. She turned them on and below the stage, in the seats of the audience…

* * *

“So is this the part where you ask me how I feel or whatever?”

“If you’d like me to. But I was hoping that you could tell me a little bit about yourself first. In particular, if there’s anything you might want to specifically talk about.”

Should anyone be watching this scene from outside, they might laugh at the ridiculousness. Inside Gekkogahara’s office was Bakugou, reclining on a couch with his hands folded on his stomach. Above him was a monitor that floated around 50 centimetres above his face. On it was a cute, pink rabbit in a cute, pink outfit reminiscent of a magical girl. It was animatedly conversing with the teen, while its controller, sitting in a wheelchair besides the couch, sat as still as a statue. Only moving to type commands into her keyboard every so often.

“I don’t wanna talk about shit. Just wanna get this over with so I can go back to my work.” Bakugou replied haughtily. He glared at the bunny rabbit named Usami floating awkwardly above his head.

“Well in that case, you’re dismissed.” Usami said casually. “Did you really think I’d say something like that? Our session doesn’t end for another 45 minutes. We could just do nothing and stare at our thumbs all day, if you like. Or, we can actually talk about you and your troubles. It’s completely up to you, Bakugou.” Usami flapped her arms up and down on screen.

“Tch! If you’re going to do that, you might as well let me go already.” Bakugou clicked his tongue in annoyance. “What’s the point in keeping me here if we’re just gonna do nothing?”

“But that’s exactly the point.” Usami giggled while rubbing her belly. “I will keep you here until our time is up. Whether or not you want to work with me will be completely up to you. I can’t force you to cooperate with me. But if you’re going to be stuck here either way, won’t it make more sense to actually try and get something out of it?”

Bakugou glares at Usami, who merely blinks in response. Finding the situation awkward, he turns his head to look at Usami’s controller, Gekkogahara. The girl looks up from her keyboard and meets Bakugou’s gaze. Her mouth was hidden by her long scarf and her emotionless eyes drilled into the back of Bakugou’s skull.

He could hardly believe that a girl like that was controlling a character that looked and acted like Usami. Or “Magical Miracle Girl Usami” or whatever she liked to be called. Finding it even more awkward than the rabbit, he turned back to Usami, who isn’t moving in the slightest on screen.

Well, no. That wasn’t true. It swayed slightly back and forth, left and right, as if it were a real, living thing instead of a facsimile stuffed doll projected onto a screen.

“Whatever. I don’t have anything to talk about anyway.” Bakugou harrumphed. He crossed his arms where he laid and glared angrily at the virtual toy. He could only imagine what this scene would look like to an outside observer, but he didn’t care.

“Well, that’s fine. But if you do want to talk about something, I think recent dreams might be a good place to start.” Usami said happily.

“Dreams?” Bakugou muttered under his breath. He didn’t have many dreams, not that he could remember anyway. Though recently that had been changing. There was this one dream that he had been experiencing recently.

It started after he was suspended. In it, Bakugou was wandering around in a dark room. It was so dark that no matter how hard he looked he couldn’t see what was in front of him. Though he could see himself and the floor just fine. It was as if there was a spotlight shining on him, following his every move.

Every time, he would wander around a bit. Stumble around in the darkness hoping to bump into something, anything. A wall or a person or something. But there was just darkness wherever he went. He felt that he was trying to find something, something… or someone. But he could never seem to find them.

He got impatient eventually. He always did. He would try to use his quirk, create an Explosion to light up the room or wherever he was. He would raise his arm and watch his hand disappear into the darkness. Bakugou would feel the familiar feeling of an Explosion building up from his palm. He splayed his hands, and just before he could release, the lights suddenly turned on.

And there he saw…

* * *

Hundreds, if not thousands of people wearing Monokuma helmets staring back at them. Their bodies neutral in their sitting position, their faces tilted just slightly towards the stage, so it looked as if they were all staring at them.

“H-holy crap…” Said Kaminari.

“The audience… all this time…” Jirou gasped with her hands covering her mouth.

Only Bakugou stayed silent. For he knew that if he tried to speak, no intelligible sounds would come out.

There, at the end of every dream right before he woke up screaming and covered in a cold sweat, and there out in the audience, filling rows and rows of seats, were Monokuma helmets. Not a single seat was empty, and not a single head was bare. The unnerving face drawn on every helmet stared directly at the stage. Directly at Bakugou.

“Wha- huh- You!” Bakugou found his voice and pointed his palms at Mioda. “What did you…”

“Look at them all.” Mioda had a proud gaze as she swept her hand across the audience. “Originally, Ibuki thought to hammer and nail down everyone to their seats, buuuut that felt like too much effort. This is much better, don’t you agree?”

“What. The. FUCK!!!” Bakugou yelled, his face slowly regaining the colour he had previously lost. “You… You’re with Ultimate Despair? You’ve been working for despair this whole time?!”

“Yup yup yuuup!” Mioda replied, still retaining the same cheer despite what she had just revealed. “Ever since _that person_ came into our lives, Ibuki’s a proud member of the group known as Ultimate Despair!” She proclaimed happily. “Just like her classmates, she goes around spreading despair any way she can. Sometimes, she even does things that causes _her_ to feel despair. Ah, isn’t despair just wonderful?”

Hearing her explanation, Bakugou didn’t know what to say. His mouth opened and closed for a second before he managed to force some words out. “How long… how long have you been a member of Ultimate Despair?”

“Mmm… that’s a tough one….” Mioda pressed her fingers to her temple as she thought about the answer to his question. “Probably around… half a year or so? Yeah, that sounds right.”

“Half a year… so that time at the Culture Festival… you were…”

“Ah, yeah, that’s right! Ibuki was on a super top-secret mission with her friends!” She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest in pride. “Well, actually it was just her friend’s mission. The rest of us were just there to have fun.”

“You mean Ultimate Despair had been working beneath the shadows for that long?” Kaminari and Jirou had climbed up the stage and were now approaching Bakugou and Mioda. “And that they’ve already invaded UA in the past?”

“What did you do? What did you do at our school?” Jirou asked. UA had been converted into a base for the Future Foundation. The idea that Ultimate Despair had tampered with it in any way before the Tragedy had even occurred was terrifying. Could they have been compromised in some way?

“We took pictures!” Mioda said happily. The others waited for her continue but it appeared that she wasn’t going to.

“Was that… all you did?” Kaminari dared to ask.

“Yup, that’s right.”

“…” They weren’t sure if she was lying or telling the truth. They supposed they couldn’t be exactly sure whether or not the enemy would reveal the truth so easily to them.

During all of this, Jirou had been silently taking out the phone in her pocket. Holding it behind her back, she tried as hard as she could not to make a sound while simultaneously attempting to dial the Future Foundation for backup.

“Ah, no. You reeeally shouldn’t do that.” Mioda spoke up, looking directly at Jirou with despair-filled eyes. “I mean, I usually allow phones at our concerts, but this one’s a little special. So for the sake of the rest of the audience, won’t you put that away?”

“The audience…?” Jirou turned and looked out into the crowd. Thousands upon thousands of Monokuma helmets stared back at him. A shiver ran down the heroes’ spines as they realized what Mioda meant.

‘If you call the Future Foundation for help, I won’t hesitate to kill everyone here.’

Understanding that, Jirou carefully began returning the phone to her pocket before Mioda stopped her once more.

“Um, actually. Why don’t you toss that out. Just to avoid any _accidents_.” Mioda tapped her guitar with a finger as she stressed the last word. “ _Okaaay?_ ”

Jirou gingerly tossed the phone off of the stage. It clattered as it landed on the hard floor below. It didn’t sound like anything was broken, but no one dared to check. Mioda stared at them coldly for a while before it was replaced by her usual peppy self.

“Okay! Now that that’s over with, we can get the show started again!” Mioda pumped an arm into the air as she cheered. Her voice reverberated throughout the hall “Sorry about the delay folks. We ran into a few problems onstage, but that’s all sorted out now and we can go right back to the music!”

As if they were robots, the helmeted audience started clapping immediately as Mioda finished speaking. Bakugou, Jirou, and Kaminari looked at one another, confused as to what was going to happen.

“Hey, wait a sec!” Bakugou yelled out right as Mioda was about to start strumming. Her hand hovered in midair and she turned around. “What are you going to do now?”

“Ummm, what do you mean?” Mioda tilted her head. “I still have a concert to be playing in, don’t I?”

“Then, what about us?”

“Why don’t you go grab a seat? Or you can stand if you really want to, Ibuki guesses. You have even better than front-row seats, after all. Aren’t you guys lucky? This wouldn’t fly in any normal concert you know?” Mioda shrugged. “You could also leave if you don’t want to hear us play. But then Ibuki would get sad.”

Bakugou blinked. He wasn’t expecting this sort of response. “No, I mean… we’re heroes. And you’re Ultimate Despair.” He said, pointing out the obvious. “Isn’t this where we, y’know, fight?”

“Hm? Hm hm? Hm hm hmm?” Mioda hmmed. “Did you really want to fight that badly? I didn’t take you for the bloodthirsty type, you know? Well, you can hit me if you really want to. I won’t stop you. In the meantime, I’ll be rocking out over here!”

“What, you’re seriously…”

“Oh but be warned. I won’t forgive you if you mess with the other girls in the band.” Mioda said.

They turned their attention away from her and for the first time since they got up on the stage, they noticed the other members of the band. They couldn’t see them clearly earlier since they were so far away, but now that they were closer, they understood exactly what Ultimate Despair was capable of.

Thin, almost invisible strings were attached to various places of the other members. Their arms, hands, legs, and feet all had strings stretching to above the stage. Looking up, they saw a bunch of Monokuma with their claws extended outwards, the string wrapped around them as if they were the masters for these human puppets.

They looked back down. The other band members stared back at the heroes with tear-filled eyes. It was then that the heroes noticed another thing that was off about them.

Their mouths were stitched shut. A tiny criss-cross pattern went up and down, in and out of their lips, sealing them tight, preventing them from speaking. They looked at the heroes with saddened eyes, silently begging them to be released from despair’s clutches.

“And a one! And a two! And a one, two, three, four!” The song started and the Monokuma kicked into action. Tugged by the string, the band members started playing along with the music, guided by the robots above. In an instant, the concert hall became lively again and the light illuminating the audience were dimmed.

Amidst all this were the three heroes, who just couldn’t understand any of what was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you feeeel the loooove toniiiight.  
> No? Oh well, that’s fine.
> 
> The heroes enter Mos Eisley, named after the Star Wars location for its iconic music. It’s not the most sophisticated of names but what can you do, I’m bad with naming things after all.
> 
> The Ultimate Despair this week is Ibuki Mioda! The only member of Ultimate Despair that Bakugou had met before the Tragedy and the only one whose existence would give Bakugou pause. I hope you were able to guess it.
> 
> Fair bit of warning, though I still haven’t quite finalized how the fight will play out, it will be a little weirder than the usual fights. For starters, Mioda is literally telling them that she’s okay with them attacking her while she’s playing. Isn’t that strange?  
> Well, it might be less strange if you know her quirk. I’ve given you far fewer hints to her quirk than with Hanamura, but you should still be able to make a guess based on this.
> 
> Mioda wasn’t lying by the way. The original plan was to have every resident of Massu be nailed into their seats with no mind control helmets so that they’d be fully aware of what was happening around them. I decided to change it because if their hands were nailed down then they wouldn’t be able to clap!
> 
> Next chapter: The show must go on!


	11. Chapter 11

Bakugou, Jirou, and Kaminari watched in stunned silence as the band started playing once more. For all the atrocities that Ultimate Despair was capable of, utterly ignoring their presence was the least expected things they could have thought of. Well, _one of_ the least expected at least.

They glanced at one another, sharing confused looks between themselves. What were they supposed to do in a situation like this?

Jirou walked back towards the side of the stage and beckoned the others to follow her. Together, they went backstage, where it was a little quieter but not by much. It was dark, but their eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting.

“Okay, what are our options?” Kaminari asked, hoping for someone else to deal with the thinking.

“We can run. Or we can stay and fight.” Jirou said decisively. “Those are our only things we can do for now.”

“We’re not running away.” Bakugou declared to which Kaminari raised an eyebrow. “We’re not leaving the entire town to be under Ultimate Despair’s control.”

“Oh, and I thought you just wanted to spend more time with Mioda.” Kaminari said without a care in the world.

“Huh? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“It looked like you two were hitting it off. Right Jirou?”

“Whoa, don’t drag me into this.” Jirou waved her arms then looked back to Bakugou. “Are you sure about this? I mean, I don’t want to just give everyone’s lives up either but from the looks of it, it seems you two have some sort of history together.”

“We don’t have a history!” Bakugou shouted, his voice clear over the music. “We only met one time. It was barely even five minutes.”

“Well, alright. If you say so.” Jirou frowned, indicating her continuing disbelief. “Anyway, Kaminari. What are your thoughts? Should we run or fight?”

“You’re asking me? I think we should get out of here. I mean, Mioda isn’t aggressive towards us but that might have just been because of Bakugou.” Bakugou glared at him and Kaminari flinched. He continued. “In any case, we were told to run if we even do encounter Ultimate Despair, right?”

“But she made me throw our only phone away. By the time we call for backup, they’ll be long gone.” Jirou said.

“Yeah but… we don’t even know what her quirk does. We’re at a huge disadvantage here.”

Bakugou’s started at this. “You don’t? What happened to what you were saying before? I thought she was supposed to be famous.”

“Yeah, for being a musician!” Kaminari defended himself. “I mean, what did you expect? She’s not a hero, the topics of quirks don’t really come up in her interviews and whatnot.”

“Tch! You’re fucking useless.” Bakugou dismissed him.

“Well sor _ry_ that I didn’t obsessively stalk the _one_ celebrity that we’d encounter and would later have to fight.” Kaminari complained with biting sarcasm. “Sorry that I didn’t adequately prepare for this _one exact scenario_.”

“Whatever, her quirk has got to be something to do with sound. I just wanted to ask you guys to make sure.”

“Huh? How’d you get that?” Jirou asked him.

“She didn’t have a microphone.” Bakugou explained. “Not even one of those headsets you wear on your head. I was standing the closest to her so I could see it clearly. Also, her guitar wasn’t plugged into anything. Despite all that, we could clearly hear her talking and playing even from all the way at the back of the room.”

“I see… So it’s just a sound quirk, huh?” Kaminari said. “That doesn’t sound too scary. Ah, no offense, Jirou.”

“Gee, thanks.” Muttered Jirou.

“Alright! So it’s settled. We go in there, beat the crap out of Ultimate Despair and rescue the town.” Kaminari bumped his fists together as he got pumped up for the inevitable fight. “Let’s do this!”

“It can’t possibly be that easy…”

* * *

Out of the corner of her eye, Mioda saw the heroes appearing from offstage right in the middle of the song. Ah, so they hadn’t run off after all. That was good, Ibuki didn’t really like the idea of singing to an empty audience. She was glad that they were here to enjoy her performance.

“Ultimate Despair! You’re fucking dead!” She heard Bakugou shout over the sounds of her Amplified singing. So they were going to fight her it seemed. They really were treating her like a villain. Even though all Ibuki wanted was to rock out with her old friends. Sure, her methods were a little heavy handed, but she was sure that they were going to forgive her sooner or later.

But now she was being attacked by heroes. As if she were a common villain. Ah, the joyous feeling of despair coursed through her as she sang with all her might. She clutched her guitar tight as the heroes approached.

First, the one called Jirou sent out sound waves with her Earphone Jack. Ah, that’s a really cool quirk. Ibuki thought to herself as she countered her attack. A quirk like that really belongs to someone who appreciates music. A super _duper_ cool quirk. Well, Ibuki’s quirk was cooler though.

As Jirou attacked from range, Bakugou and Kaminari got in close to fire off their respective attacks. Explosions and Electricity. Ooooh, that’s pretty cool too. Actually, that was _crazy_ cool. Maybe she could set up fake explosions onstage before they appeared. And the crackling of electricity would make for an amazing backdrop during her performances. Ah, her creative juices were flowing non-stop, who knew that being the target of a hero attack could give her so many amazing ideas.

She reached the end of the song right as the heroes let loose their attack. With one majestic strum of her guitar, the attacks connected, and she activated her quirk. She stood still, holding her hand high while savouring the ending of the song. Bakugou’s Explosion had created a cloud of smoke that obscured her from view. As it cleared, the sight of her triumphant pose was revealed to be seen by all.

She was met with thunderous applause. Well, they were ordered to applaud every time they finished a song. But the clapping this time sounded louder than usual. That meant that underneath the mind control, they were really impressed, right? Right?

“W-what the fuck?!”

“How…? I saw that hit connect! That was a direct hit! I’m sure of it!”

Oh yeah, there was still this to deal with.

* * *

Bakugou stared at Mioda in quiet disbelief. How was something like this possible? They hit her, they had all hit her, he was sure of it. Not only his Explosion, but Kaminari’s Electricity, and the sound waves from Jirou’s Earphones. And yet Mioda was standing there, a triumphant expression on her face, looking out to the crowd below and seemingly completely uninjured. She was ignoring them, it was if they weren’t even on her radar.

“W-what the fuck?!” He shouted. Bakugou rubbed his eyes, he wasn’t just seeing things. Their attack had done no damage to the musician despite all of their ferocity.

“How…? I saw that hit connect! That was a direct hit! I’m sure of it!” Kaminari echoed Bakugou’s sentiments in full. Neither of them could believe it.

The sound of the audience’s applause almost crowded out their surprised shouts. Damn her. Did she mind control them just so she could feel like she was doing a real performance? If so, what were her plans for them after this concert ended?

Bakugou and Kaminari backed up from Mioda and retreated to Jirou’s side. Looking at one another, they commenced freaking out.

“What the hell? That did nothing!” Kaminari repeated. Mioda was completely undamaged, and the three heroes could all see that clearly from where they were huddled. “Did we… did we miss or something?”

“Like hell we did!” Bakugou shouted back. “This has to be the work of a quirk, right?”

“But you said that Mioda’s quirk had something to do with sound.” Jirou reminded him. “How does that have anything to do with being able to defend herself against all those attacks?”

“I don’t know, damnit! Maybe… maybe it was a different person’s quirk.” Bakugou suggested.

“A different person’s?” Kaminari asked. “Like… someone in the audience maybe?”

“Or one of the other band members?” Jirou added. “But they’re captives too. Why would they help Mioda over us?”

“No, it’s not them… I think.” Bakugou muttered. “Look at them. They’re eyes. They’re barely even aware of what’s going on anymore. All of their movements are being controlled by the strings, their don’t have the presence of mind to help out with the battle. And the people in the audience… Fuck, I can’t imagine any of them have been ordered to protect her either.”

“Then who? Is someone hiding out somewhere while protecting Mioda?”

“Fuck! This isn’t getting us anywhere! Hey! Mioda!!” Bakugou shouted at the girl.

Mioda had just been in the middle of telling the audience of a story where she had found an injured bird and decided to take care of it when she was younger. She was really getting into the tale despite the fact that no one out there was in the right state of mind to appreciate it. She heard Bakugou’s shouting and looked over.

“Oh? A question from the audience?” Mioda pointed at him with both hands. “Very well then, speak your mind!”

Bakugou growled and clenched his teeth. He didn’t appreciate the way Mioda was acting towards them. She was pretending to be completely oblivious of the severity of the situation. In other words, she was treating them as if they weren’t a threat.

“What the- hey, what are you doing Bakugou?” Jirou asked him, surprised that he would suddenly call out to the enemy like this.

Bakugou ignored her. “That attack just now. It doesn’t look like you were hurt at all. Heck, you’re not even a little bit fazed by it. Was that due to your quirk, or someone else’s?”

“Hmm, that’s a very good question, Katsuki!” Mioda replied, her voice still amplified, as if she were taunting them for not being able to figure her quirk out. “Well, since you asked, I’ll tell you. Everything up until was the result of my quirk and only my quirk. Does that answer your question?”

“I’ve got more.” Bakugou said bluntly. To this, Mioda smiled, as if saying that she’d happily answer their questions. “What does your quirk do?”

From this, Mioda looked disappointed. “Ah, you can’t expect me to tell you _all_ my secrets, do you? Well, you already have one part of it right. I’m using it to amplify my voice and our music. You should be able to figure out the rest by yourself. That’s two questions by the way. I’ll allow one more and then I’ll start the next song.”

“One more huh…?” Bakugou muttered.

Kaminari grabbed Bakugou’s arm. “Dude, how do you know she’s even telling you the truth? This could just be another one of Ultimate Despair’s tricks.”

“She’s telling the truth.” Bakugou replied, shaking his off his arm while not even bothering to look Kaminari in the eye. “She wants us to figure her out.”

Kaminari released his grip on Bakugou as he studied his eyes. They were cold and determined, it seemed that he truly believed that.

Kaminari and Jirou looked at one another and shrugged. Both feeling completely helpless in the odd situation, they decided to leave it to Bakugou.

“Fine then. Final question. He announced. “What are you planning to do with the people of Massu after this concert is over?”

“Hm? Oh, I guess I have no real use for them after they’ve served their purpose.” Mioda said cheerfully.

“So, you’ll let them go-“

“I guess I’ll just kill them all!” Mioda declared, winking playfully while sticking her tongue out.

“W-what? Why?” Kaminari asked, utterly shocked that she would make such a statement with a smiling, innocent face such as hers.

“Sorry!” Mioda shouted. “No more questions from the audience for now! It’s time for our next song!”

As Mioda cut Kaminari off, the band started to play once more. The song was similar to the last one, a bright, energetic tune that wouldn’t sound out of place playing on a local radio station while you were driving to or from work. It was the kind of song that just about anyone could tap their feet or hum along to.

It was a bit generic. Thought Bakugou. But he quickly refocused back onto their current predicament.

“She’s going to kill everyone here…” Jirou repeated. She was at a loss for words at just how happy Mioda seemed while saying something so horrifying. The cheerful song just added to the dissonant tone of the fight so far.

“Who the fuck cares.” Bakugou said. “Doesn’t matter what she was planning on doing with ‘em. We still need to take her down.”

“With what?” Kaminari asked. “We can’t do anything to her. How do you expect us to win?”

“Oh come on!” Bakugou exploded at his teammate. “Are you saying that that was all you’ve got? What about your fucking supermoves, huh? Or your specially designed gear? We’re not giving up here!”

* * *

Ah, they were at it again, huh? Well, she’d be surprised if they weren’t going to try again. Heroes weren’t the type of people to just give up after one defeat, you know? Buuuut, no matter how hard they try, they’ll never be able to get past Ibuki’s quirk. Too bad, so sad!

Sorry, but it just so happened that you were a good matchup for Ibuki is all. Really, you don’t have to feel down. Not at all. Ibuki was sure that if some of the other students she saw at the Sports Festival were here she’d have no choice but to retreat or fight back seriously.

Probably.

Maybe.

Definitely!

...Probably.

Well, it was also true that her quirk would let her take on even someone like Endeavour with no problems whatsoever. The former, and current, number two hero in Japan. Not that she would particularly want to, of course. Fighting student heroes was much more interesting.

Whooooa. Hero supermoves, and she was going to be able to see it up close. Ibuki would also be _feeling_ them up close if it weren’t for the sheer crazy amount of control she had over her quirk.

She saw that Kaminari guy throw up two or three weird devices before letting loose his quirk. Electricity filled the air and surrounded Ibuki completely. What a _shocking_ performance. Hah! Too bad it didn’t do anything.

Next up was Jirou it seemed. Plugging her Earphones into a device, she tossed them out and let loose her powerful amplified heartbeat. A strong, pulsing wave of sound assaulted her from both sides. Ah, no wait. This was bad. Sorta. Kinda? Sorta.

Ibuki couldn’t just let these soundwaves overpower or disturb her own music. She needed to be a bit more careful in handling this. She could use her quirk to stop it just fine. But since soundwaves expand outward so far, there’ll be places that her quirk can’t reach. In that case, she’ll just need to amplify her own sound in order to compliment those waves. In the end, the sound of her music was preserved. Sweet triumph!

Erm, no. There was still one more guy, wasn’t there? Ah crap! Ibuki totally forgot the most important person that was there. Ibuki’s sorry, Katsuki. She promises that she didn’t mean to. Though, this was all in her head, so it’s not like he’ll ever hear her apology. Nor did he have a chance to feel slighted in the first place.

Oh, Katsuki’s attack is pretty scary. Does he really want her dead that much? Or maybe he just wants her to notice his strength. Ibuki remembered reading somewhere that boys would fire off their quirks at each other to assert their dominance. Or… was that gorillas? Do gorillas even have quirks? Uh, nevermind, this was too confusing. In terms of raw power Ibuki supposes it's pretty good. But the type of attack still makes it ineffective against someone like her.

The gauntlets that Bakugou wore on his wrist store his Nitroglycerin sweat and can stored in order to be used in a massive Explosion later. One gauntlet was pretty strong, so using two gauntlets at once would double the power, right? Or maybe not? Ibuki wasn’t sure. There was probably a scientific principle that explained what happened when two explosions went off next to each other, but she didn’t need to bother with that.

Poof, all the energy in the attack was reduced to nothingness. Just like that.

* * *

“It’s still not working!” Kaminari shouted.

Irritation crept into Bakugou’s mind. He could _see_ it wasn’t working, so why did that idiot feel the need to tell him that? Narrowing his eyes, he observed Mioda. Not only did she escape that barrage of supermoves completely unscathed, but her clothes weren’t even wrinkled. Her guitar’s fine and the ground around her… Ah, no. It was faint, but a charred circle could be seen on the stage around a completely untouched, perfect floor. So her quirk had a maximum range, did it? But he still doesn’t know what it _does_.

“Damnit!!!” Bakugou shouted in complete frustration. He wasn’t going to accept this. He wasn’t going to just let the people of this city die. He looked at Mioda from where he was standing. She didn’t look particularly strong. Though he knew that being in despair enhanced their strength somehow, so even she could do some real damage to them if she tried.

Fuck! That was the most irritating thing of all. Mioda wasn’t even trying to fight back. He knew that if she actually fought back, then they’d probably be utterly curb stomped. But she was just standing there, taking their attacks and putting on a show while she was at it.

Bakugou took a step closer to Mioda. It seemed the song was just about over too. It had already hit the climax, and the rest of the song sounded like a denouement that ramped down the tension, the rhythm was slower, and he predicted that it would end softly as the music faded away. Bakugou walked closer. No, that wasn’t it at all. Although it sounded like it was winding down, there was a second climax. The music swelled, the pace quickened as Bakugou started treading more quickly.

He ran towards Mioda while Jirou and Kaminari watched, confused as to what his plan is. It wasn’t a plan. No, not really. It was more a feeling. Or a hint of a feeling that he might be correct in his assumption. He just needed to test it out. He reeled back his arm, twisted his body while using his forward momentum and launched a punch right at Mioda. The fist stopped on the side of her body right as the song truly ended. Not with a whimper, but with a bang. A powerful, final chord that reverberated in your ears. One that rocked your skull before slowly fading away, dimmer and dimmer, before the hall was once again bathed in silence.

Like robots, the crowd applauded once more. But Bakugou didn’t care, and neither did Mioda. Instead, they held their positions. Mioda frozen in a playful pose, Bakugou with his arm outstretched, fist still attached to her side. Both of them smiled.

“So, did you figure it out?” Mioda asked in a quiet voice that only they could hear.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Bakugou whispered back.

“Good. Now the real fun can begin.”

* * *

Having settled that, Bakugou backed off to regroup with his teammates. As he did, he was bombarded with criticism.

“What the hell did you do that for?” Kaminari asked.

“That was pretty risky, getting close to her like that.” Jirou commented.

“Ah, shut up. I’ve figured out what her quirk is.” Bakugou frowned, seemingly not too happy with his revelation. “You remember Newton’s third law of motion?”

“Newton, uh…?” Kaminari seemed to be drawing a blank, only increasing the other two’s disappointment. “Was that the name of a hero…? No…”

“We learned about it in class, idiot.” Jirou said. “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” She turned back to Bakugou. “And that has to do with her quirk?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I figured it out the moment my punch connected. Long story short, she can affect energy.”

Newton’s third law of motion states that every action will have an equal and opposite reaction. If you’ve ever punched a wall, you might have noticed that your hand hurt afterwards. That’s because the moment your fist collided with the wall, the wall exerted an equal amount of force back in the direction of your hand. This is also the reason why a gun has recoil when it fires a bullet, as the bullet is placing as much force on the gun that the gun did on it.

When Bakugou’s fist hit Mioda, he didn’t experience the same amount of pushback as he had expected. Instead, it felt as if his arm simply stopped in midair right as he got close to her. His body felt nothing. It was then that he understood what kind of quirk Mioda possessed.

She was amplifying the sound of her singing, her guitar playing, and her bandmates’ music as Bakugou expected. But the mystery of Mioda’s quirk went further than that. Jirou attacked with sound energy, Kaminari with electrical energy, and Bakugou’s Explosions with thermal and kinetic energy. They were all different types of energy, and it was all being diminished by Mioda’s quirk. She couldn’t change its direction, so the attacks all looked like it hit the musician head on, but in reality, they didn’t do squat.

Bakugou explained as such to his teammates, and from the expressions they had on their faces, it seemed like they understood perfectly.

Kaminari looked at Mioda with a forlorn face. “But even if we know what she can do, with the people we’ve got here, doesn’t that mean she’s practically unbeatable?”

“Yeah. If Bakugou’s right, then there’s nothing our quirks can do against her.” Jirou added her agreement. “Any attack we make will be ineffective.”

“I know.” Said Bakugou. “That’s why I’m fucking pissed.”

They stood in silence for a little while before Mioda turned around. Her back was facing the audience and she was looking directly at them. She smiled at the heroes and they were on guard. It wasn’t her usual, energetic smile. This smile was that of a predator that cornered its prey. Cold and sadistic.

“So, you figured it out, did you? Well, I always knew that you’d be able to eventually.” Though her words were encouraging, with the way she spoke, it sounded like a mean-spirited taunt instead. “I call it Tuner. This quirk allows me to amplify and diminish energy as it travels. As long as it’s travelling somewhere within a certain range, I can affect it. This also means that none of your attacks will have any effect on me.

So? Are you feeling the despair yet? You’ll never be able to beat me with your quirks. So you’ll be forced to watch as thousands of people die in front of you.” She gestured out at the crowd.

“Shut up! We’ll never give into despair!” Kaminari howled.

“That’s right! You’re not going to get away with this!” Jirou declared.

“Yes! That’s just what I like to see!” Mioda pumped an arm as she changed back to her personality from before. “The greater the hope, the harsher the despair! So feel free to hope as much as you want now, for the despair you taste will be all the more satisfying later.”

“Just shut up about despair already.” Bakugou muttered.

“Okayyy!” Mioda shouted and turned back to facing the audience. “Instead of talking about despair, I’ll sing about it! This will be last song we play tonight, so make sure you’re listening carefully! Got it?”

“Last song? That means…”

“This is a brand new song I’ve just written! It details the journey I’ve gone through since our band first broke up and went our separate ways. This is one that comes straight from the heart! Put your hands together for our newest single ‘Despair Receives Hope’!”

The audience exploded with applause, though not more than they had for any other song. Having experienced them for so long, they really did seem more like mindless robots than people.

The music began playing once more and the heroes looked at one another, frightened at what was about to come.

“Last song… does this means she plans to kill everyone after this song?” Kaminari asked.

“Yeah… I’m pretty sure that’s what it means.” Jirou confirmed. “But how will she do that?”

“Maybe she programmed the Monokuma helmets to explode? But it’s not like we can just remove them. Oh, sorry man.” Kaminari suddenly apologized to Bakugou, who scowled.

“What’s even the point of talking about _how_ she’s going to do it?” Bakugou asked in a low growl. “We just need to stop _her_.”

“Because there might be a way to stop Mioda without fighting her head on.” Jirou answered, slightly irritated. “If we can just save Massu, then Mioda won’t be as big of a threat anymore.”

“…” Bakugou was silent as he considered this. He looked to the side, then directly at Mioda. She was the enemy. Yes, she was a member of Ultimate Despair that the Future Foundation fought against. Just looking at her made him feel annoyed. No, that wasn’t it. Mioda actually looked quite impressive playing her guitar while singing on the stage like that.

What was it then? The song? No, it wasn’t bad. It was quite good, in fact. If the world hadn’t been as fucked up as it had been, he could easily imagine a song like this dominating the charts. But maybe that was the reason he was annoyed. Instinctively, Bakugou supposed, he knew that it would be a popular song that he’d get sick of hearing over and over again. But that was how these pop songs went. Catchy, easy to listen to, the kind of song that appealed to as wide a demographic as possible.

Maybe that was the annoying part.

Bakugou blinked. A memory flashed in his mind. Mioda was looking at him with an odd expression. Her eyes pink, not the same red as they were now. They were talking… what had they been talking about again?

“Hey, Jirou, Kaminari. You said she was famous, right?” Bakugou suddenly interrupted the two’s discussion about ways they could beat out Mioda’s quirk with an almost completely unrelated question, receiving two looks of immense surprise and disbelief.

“Huh?! You’re asking about that now? We have much more important things to be worrying about, dude!”

“Yeah, in case you haven’t noticed, there are over thousands of lives on the line here.” Jirou berated him. “If you want to ask for an autograph, I suggest you wait until _after_ we take Mioda into custody.”

“Just tell me!” Bakugou yelled, then calmed down almost instantly. “No, I mean, I think… I have a plan? Maybe…”

The two of them glanced at Mioda before looking back at Bakugou. They had, what? Maybe four minutes before the song was finished? They needed to act fast. So trusting Bakugou with whatever plan he came up with was probably the best solution. Even if he didn’t sound so confident.

“Fine, what do you want to know?” Jirou relented.

“You said something about them breaking up due to creative differences. What information can you give me on that?” Bakugou said as he jerked a thumb back at the other band members who were still being puppeted by the Monokuma.

“Why do you even need to- okay, fine.” Jirou wanted to ask why Bakugou wanted to know such things but decided that time was of the essence in their case. “Okay, these were mostly rumours, alright? Nothing was ever proven but it’s all I’ve heard. They say that Mioda was the one who decided to break up the band. And the reason she gave was that they were going through ‘creative differences’.”

“She wanted to branch out into other genres.” Bakugou muttered unconsciously.

Jirou blinked. “What did you say?”

“Nothing, continue.” Bakugou quickly waved away her question.

“Alright… None of them ever gave an answer as to what those ‘differences’ really were. Not Mioda, nor any of the others. And people were wondering for a really long time, since they had all been on hiatus for a while and have come out with nothing the past few years.

…Is there anything else you wanted to know?”

“Um. These guys, before they broke up.” Bakugou started. “What sort of music did they play before?”

Kaminari almost couldn’t believe his ears. “What? Haven’t you been listening this entire time? Every song they played so far is pop! Obviously, they’re an all girls pop band!”

“…Right. Got it.” Was all he said in response. He nodded and began to walk towards Mioda. She was still singing and playing without ever looking behind her. Kaminari and Jirou watched as he walked closer and closer to Mioda and farther and farther away from them.

“Hey.” He called out. There was no indication that Mioda heard him. “Hey! Mioda!” He called again, and again Mioda ignored him in favour of continuing her song.

Hearing the song, one might be quick to write it off as another generic pop song that would easily rise to the top of the charts. Actually listening to the contents of the song would change things. Though the tune was cheerful, the lyrics do nothing but wear down any soul that was listening closely. The song described how the singer was flung to and fro by the tides of life, and how they struggle to feel the basics of joy as they drift about in their daily lives.

“The dirt road connecting my dreams is surrounded by a thick fog…”

“Hey!” Bakugou yelled again. “I don’t know if you’re fucking listening to me or whatever…”

“Searching high and low at the market for rice and I’m running out of cash…”

“But you don’t have to play just for the fans.” Bakugou faltered as he spoke. He snuck a glance behind him and the other two were still looking at him expectantly. It seemed that they wouldn’t be able to hear him from this far away, especially with how loud it was. Bakugou figured that was for the best. Mentally, he wanted to kick himself. Was _this_ really the best plan he had?

Then he remembered Mioda’s face as she was looking at him with those eyes of hers. Those, hopeful, pink eyes.

“All the old lunch sets are stacked up and covered in clearance stickers…”

“I mean, that’s what you were talking about before weren’t you? When you came to UA? At the time I didn’t give it much thought and just blurted out an answer, but it’s clear that it meant a lot to you. I mean, if you turned to despair because of it and all…”

“The completely cold spicy soup has too much bean paste in it…”

It might have been Bakugou’s imagination, but he thought he heard Mioda’s voice waver for just a split second. He gulped. “You were scared, weren’t you? After you broke up. I heard about it from Jirou, she said you haven’t released anything new for a good while. Though I bet people were anticipating your return.”

“So give some water to the girl eating it, dammit!”

“You said that you wanted to branch out into a different genre. Apparently, that was something that you never told anyone in an interview, so I don’t know why you told me that. Heh.” Bakugou took a quick breath and rubbed the sweat off his forehead. His heart was beating like crazy. “Guess… I can guess that it’d be pretty scary to just up and do it. Especially with all those peoples’ expectations on you. They’re probably imagining that you’d come back with more of the same shit. Maybe that’s why you put it off for so long. Or maybe not, who fucking knows.”

“…” Mioda was silent while the others played behind her. It seemed that she wasn’t playing for this part of the song.

“But I meant what I said back then! Even if I just blurted it out without thinking. You don’t have to cater to fans, and you definitely won’t fail if you’re talented.” Bakugou balled up his fists and clenched his jaw. He stared at the back of Mioda’s head as she stood there. “You got that?”

Suddenly, the room went silent. The band behind them stopped playing and the last remaining echoes of music reverberated off the walls and quickly faded into nothingness. Bakugou blinked and quickly saw a remote in Mioda’s hand. It must have been the one that was controlling the Monokumas. Currently, it was flipped in the “off” position.

Bakugou could hear shuffling coming from behind him. Judging from the noises, Kaminari wanted to rush in to ask what was up but Jirou stopped him, likely meaning that she didn’t want him to interrupt Bakugou and was willing to let him continue doing what he was doing.

“Do you… mean it?” Mioda’s voice was barely a whisper, though in the dramatic silence of the concert hall, it was loud enough for only Bakugou to hear.

“Yes, I do. I meant everything I said!” Bakugou replied, although his voice was shaking, it was loud enough so that everyone nearby could hear him.

“Really?”

Yeah, that’s right. I know it might not mean much coming from me. Especially since I haven’t even heard of you being famous until today. But you’re seriously talented. And even if no one else supports you, I will. Okay?”

“You mean it?”

“Of course.”

“It sounds good but… Haven’t I already messed up too much? I mean, just look around you.”

“Yeah, I mean. We’re not just gonna let you off easy. If you come back with us to the Future Foundation, we could probably work something out. Just trust us, okay?”

At this, Mioda turned around. Her pink eyes glowed dimly in the darkness of the hall. They were sad and focused directly on Bakugou. A flutter of hope appeared inside Bakugou’s stomach. Right alongside pangs of nervousness.

“Thanks for the offer.” Mioda said, louder than a whisper now so now everyone can hear her clearly. “But I’m not sure if I can accept it just yet.”

Bakugou didn’t say anything. He watched Mioda carefully. They were standing there, both of them staring diligently at the other. Quietly, Bakugou asked. “What about the civilians?”

“Mm, yeah. I can do that.” Mioda pressed a different button on her remote, and a small ‘beep’ could be heard. She looked back in the direction of the audience, then back to the heroes. “They’re turned off. But it’ll be a while before they regain consciousness.”

“Then what are you…?”

“I’m just gonna go. I think?” Mioda said, unsure of herself. “Um, I’m really glad I met you, Kacchan. And I guess… we might see each other again soon.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Mioda took off her guitar and placed it gently on the ground. Then, with a simple flick of the wrist, she waved goodbye and hopped off the stage. She ran out of the concert hall while the heroes watched.

Around ten seconds passed in total silence. Sweat dripped down Bakugou’s head as his heart pounded so fast it was threatening to burst out of his chest. Willing himself to calm down, Bakugou slowly turned around towards his teammates.

There, in absolute disbelief, was Jirou and Kaminari. Their eyes wide, mouths agape at what just happened. They stared at each other, then straight at Bakugou as if he were a monster.

“Oh good grief.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! This chapter got done a bit earlier than I expected so I decided to upload it a day early so I can start working on the next one.
> 
> Just to clarify. While the music was playing, no one could hear Bakugou except for Mioda. Then, they could hear a partial conversation of only Bakugou talking. Then, they finally get to hear Mioda’s response to everything.  
> I wonder what the conversation sounded like to them.
> 
> Mioda’s quirk! I quite enjoyed designing it and creating a quirk that worked with sound and would also allow her to be the non-aggressor. It’s too bad that it was these heroes that had to fight her. If Todoroki or even Sero were here, things might’ve gone a lot differently.
> 
> Did anyone recognize the song that Mioda sang? No? Well, that’s fine, I guess.
> 
> Next chapter: The heroes clean up the mess after a lively performance. Long and awkward talks with Bakugou about just what happened between him and Mioda. And one person in the Future Foundation starts to get stressed out.


	12. Chapter 12

“Oh good grief.” Bakugou muttered as he saw his friends’ surprised faces. He crouched down on the floor to rest himself. His legs were shaking, and he was feeling quite tired from the whole event. The adrenaline that had been coursing within him had faded away and he was left feeling utterly exhausted. His heart was beating like crazy and sweat dripped off of him nonstop. Right now he would’ve given anything for a towel and a cold drink.

“Dude! That was… that was…” Didn’t look like that was in the picture for him though. Bakugou sighed internally as he looked up. Kaminari and Jirou were making their way towards him, looking impressed but also apprehensive. Bakugou wearily forced himself to stand.

“That was…” Kaminari just kept on repeating that one phrase. For a guy who liked to talk big most of the time, he was sure having trouble finding the right words.

“I didn’t expect you to be able to pull that off.” Jirou decided to speak for the both of them. “I mean, honestly, we’re surprised.”

“Hah?” Bakugou made a questioning noise. “The fuck is that supposed to mean? We learned about this shit in class.”

“Well, yeah but…” They stared at one another.

Bakugou was correct, of course. They _had_ learned about something similar to this in class. Conflict de-escalation and prevention. It was one of many hero related classes taught by the former number one hero, All-Might. It was one thing to take out an evildoer through one’s strength, it was another thing to prevent a fight from occurring altogether. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” All-Might had said, and so it was imperative that future heroes were taught not only on how to win fights, but how to stop them as well.

The classes pertaining to this topic spanned the course of two weeks. Instead of going out to train in the field, All-Might personally came to the classroom to teach them about the skillful art of talking to villains. Allegedly one of the tougher subjects for heroes to deal with.

Although the class had initially groaned about the idea of not being able to go out to train and fight and use their quirks like they usually do. They quickly grew to appreciate the course for what it was. Being able to reason with a dangerous villain in order to avoid fighting would be a powerful tool in their arsenals. After a few lessons, everyone was into it. Everyone, except Bakugou, it seemed.

He had loudly and frequently talked about the uselessness of the subject. Citing his power as reason enough that he’d never have to use any of what was being taught to him.

Little did anyone realize, however, that Bakugou would secretly go on to become one of the top scorers of the course. His pride making sure that he wasn’t going to be beaten by anyone in anything, and so he managed to gain a fair bit of knowledge in the art of diplomacy. Not that he was going to let anyone _else_ know that.

“I mean, yeah but…” Kaminari rubbed the back of his neck. “What’d you get on that anyway?”

“Ninety-five.” Bakugou muttered quickly under his breath. He looked away.

“Ninety- what, seriously?!” Kaminari shouted. “I thought you hated that course!”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t be good at it.” Bakugou scoffed.

“No, I mean…” Kaminari tapped his fingers together. Beside him, Jirou rolled her eyes.

“Okay look, what we’re trying to say is… what exactly did you and Mioda talk about?” Jirou asked directly. “We couldn’t hear what you were saying when all the music was still playing. What exactly did you say that convinced her to let everyone go?”

“Huh? Why do I have to tell you?” Bakugou scowled and turned away, his voice noticeably softer than before, yet still carried a rough edge.

“Well, you don’t, I guess… but it’d be good to know in case we run into her in the future.” Jirou said.

“And well… we’re curious, you know?” Kaminari added. He pointed at Bakugou and blushed. “I mean… from the way it sounded over where we were standing. It sounded like you were professing your love to her or something!”

“What!” Bakugou was immediately taken aback.

“Kaminari!” Jirou chided him. He looked over at her with a look that seemed to say ‘am I wrong?’ and Jirou frowned, clearly agreeing with his words. Together, they both looked at Bakugou.

“Huh? Wha-?”

“I mean! I’m not saying that it wasn’t effective, but-“

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Bakugou exploded with anger, shocking the two of them into silence. “I don’t lo- That wasn’t a confession!”

“It wasn’t?” Kaminari asked.

“No! We just… we talked about music… and stuff.” The anger quickly drained from Bakugou as he felt embarrassment creep up inside of him.

“Music?” Jirou looked at him with a disbelieving look on her face.

“It’s… I mean…” Bakugou faltered, then took a deep breath. “When we first met, at the UA Culture Festival, I mean. We… talked about some stuff. It was mostly garbage, not important. But I didn’t know she was Ultimate Despair at the time, just some annoying girl that showed up.”

“You didn’t even know she was famous…” Kaminari muttered, to which Bakugou ignored and pressed on.

“And one thing she mentioned… she had a falling out with her band or whatever. And she was worried about some stuff, and that’s what we talked about just now. I encouraged her.” Bakugou explained. “You got that?! That’s all there was.”

“I… I see.” Jirou accepted this explanation and looked back to Kaminari, who nodded and smiled.

“So you’re not in love with Ultimate Despair after all. That’s a relief.” Kaminari said thoughtlessly. “Man, I was worried there for a second.”

“As if I’d ever fall in love with a villain!”

“But you didn’t know she was Ultimate Despair until just recently, right? So you still could have-“

“Alright!” Jirou cut in through Kaminari’s words. Capturing their attention. “In case you all forgot. We still have an entire concert hall to clean up.”

“O-oh, right…”

As the leader of the group, Jirou began to take charge of the situation. “I’m gonna find the phone Mioda made me throw away and report in to the Future Foundation. Bakugou, you go free the girls over there, and Kaminari you go check on the audience. Don’t touch them.” She added that last warning and hopped down off of the stage.

Bakugou glanced at Kaminari, then the audience filled with people wearing Monokuma helmets and made his way deeper into the stage, where the other band members were. Kaminari ignored the two of them as his attention was focused somewhere else altogether.

Gleefully, he made his way over to the edge of the stage where Mioda had been standing, picked up the item that she had left behind and…

FWOOOOM!!! A scorching torrent of flame was released from the end of the guitar. Bakugou ducked while Kaminari quickly dropped the instrument back onto the ground.

“What the fuck?!” Bakugou shouted, half in anger and half in fear for almost having his face melted off.

“Why?! Would you just _touch it_?!” Jirou glared at Kaminari from down where she was standing. “What made you think that was a good idea?”

“S-sorry! Sorry…” Kaminari apologized sincerely. “I thought it was kinda cool looking, so…” The three of them turned their back down to the guitar. “And hey! It’s a guitar with a flamethrower in it! That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, if almost melting your teammates is cool then _sure_.” Jirou responded scathingly through grit teeth.

“Man, you sure are hung up about this whole ‘almost being melted’ thing, huh?” Kaminari said, looking quite embarrassed.

“More than that, why would you touch literally _anything_ that Ultimate Despair made without assuming it’s something incredibly dangerous?”

“Okay! Okay! I get it. Ugh, I’ll just leave this here.” Kaminari inched away from the guitar/flamethrower and hopped off the stage.

The rest of the cleanup progressed without issue. Bakugou carefully released Mioda’s bandmates from their strings, disconnecting their wrists and ankles with an Explosion and carefully unravelling the string that stitched their mouths shut. They tearfully expressed their thanks to a stoic Bakugou.

As Mioda had promised, the Monokuma helmets had been deactivated and the citizens of Massu slowly began to wake up. Apparently, they had been fully conscious while they were brainwashed by the helmets. They were conscious but had no control over their actions. Several of the brainwashed the heroes talked to reported that it felt like their brains were stuffed with cotton and they were watching a television that showed them their life.

Backup from the Future Foundation arrived in almost no time flat to assist them with making sure the citizens were safe. After all was said and done, the audience members were sent home, while Mioda’s other captives, the ones that were playing on stage with her, were taken into custody for their involvement with Ultimate Despair and potential information they might have on Mioda. They would also be provided security in case Mioda decided to target them again.

When everything was more or less wrapped up, the heroes and Future Foundation took their leave. All in all, they had come out of this battle relatively fine. Besides the band members, no one had been injured. Although it would take some time to see if there were any long term effects from the helmets, the hostages Mioda had taken were completely unharmed and neither were the heroes.

Furthermore, the fact that the Monokuma helmets could be turned off was a ground breaking discovery in and of itself.

“It would have been better if you could have nabbed the remote she was using.” One of the Future Foundation workers had said. “But just knowing that there’s a way to shut them off is pretty important. Right now, that person back at the base is working on a way to deactivate the helmets.”

“That person, huh…?” Bakugou muttered.

Kaminari perked up. “Hm? Bakugou, you know something?”

“Eh? No, it’s nothing.”

Besides a few bits of chatter here and there, the heroes remained relatively quiet on the way back. The mood was quite bad in the van. It was as if a dark, grey cloud hung over them, casting them in shade.

Though they had technically won an overwhelming victory, there was no ignoring the fact that they could have easily lost that battle, along with the lives of the entire town, to Ultimate Despair. It had been lucky that Bakugou had met Mioda before, that he was there with them during this patrol, that he knew what to say in the heat of the moment to get Mioda to back down.

Mioda’s quirk made her practically untouchable. Her control over energy was on the level of a master, looking back on the fight, there was absolutely no way that any of their attacks ever had any chance of possibly hurting her. Even if they had some of their other classmates that could counter her quirk, such Todoroki’s Ice or Sero’s tape, even they might not have been successful in stopping her. Because Mioda never seriously fought back, it was difficult to gauge just how tough an opponent she could have been. She could attack with Amplified sound waves, similar to Present Mic, but due to the nature of her quirk, she’d need her guitar to attack effectively. Her guitar, which doubled as a flamethrower, would also have been a devastating attack.

 _So I guess her dropping the guitar before she ran off was a sign of surrender_. Thought Bakugou. He replayed the events that occurred in their patrol back and forth in his mind. Occasionally, his mind would wander back to their very first meeting, back at the Culture Festival. Then, he would remember his conversation with Kaminari and Jirou and get annoyed.

He shook it off and decided to focus on the battle instead. He decided to focus on the feelings of helplessness at facing off against an impossible opponent. Which was what they all seemed to want to do.

So, in their minds, the fight was a loss. Silently, the heroes made their way back to their base, where they would have to give Aizawa a report on meeting yet another member of Ultimate Despair.

* * *

Midoriya knocked on the door of Manami Aiba’s office, then entered after he heard her confirmation.

“Hey Midoriya, what’s up?” Aiba greeted the boy, looking up from her computer and smiling. “I’m still working on getting through those Monokuma helmets. It seems like they can be deactivated safely, without killing the wearer, but I still haven’t quite figured it out yet.”

“Really? That’s great news.” Midoriya said.

The mind-controlling Monokuma helmets were one of the biggest problems that the Future Foundation was facing currently. Since they couldn’t be sure whether it was a member of Ultimate Despair that was wearing a fake, or an ordinary citizen that had been captured they had to use extreme caution when dealing with them. The fact that they couldn’t be safely removed was just another concern that they had when fighting against despair.

The Future Foundation currently had no captives that were under the control of a Monokuma helmet. Although Midoriya, Uraraka, and Bakugou had subdued two of them in the past. One of them died due to the removal of the helmet, while the other died of malnourishment shortly after while in Future Foundation custody. Since there was no way for them to safely remove the helmet, there was no way for their prisoner to eat or drink.

So now, the Future Foundation’s best hacker, Manami Aiba, otherwise known as La Brava in her past, was tasked with hopefully being able to get into the system that the helmets used and safely turn them off. Very few people knew about this, not because it was a secret or anything, but simply because the foundation was so large that it would have been next to impossible to know what each and every individual branch or organization was working on at any given moment.

Midoriya was one of the ones who knew, since he would join Aiba and Tobita, formerly known as the Gentle Criminal, for tea occasionally right here in Aiba’s office.

That being said, he was not here today for tea, nor was he here on matters concerning the Monokuma helmets. Last night, he had concluded his information session with Bakugou and All-Might. Bakugou had explained to them what he learned in his investigation as well as one other thing he found out. Now it was morning, and while Bakugou and a few of the others had patrols to do, Midoriya didn’t. So instead, he took some of his free time to visit Aiba regarding what Bakugou had told him.

“So, what brings you here so early in the morning, Midoriya?” Aiba asked.

“Oh it’s…” Midoriya started. “Well, you see…” He stumbled over his words. He calmed down and asked what he wanted to ask. “Did you ever attend Hope’s Peak Academy?”

Aiba stopped typing. She looked at Midoriya with a confused expression. “Hope’s Peak? Why yes, I did. Just a few years ago, in fact. I was the Ultimate Hacker. Why do you ask?”

“Oh! Really, you were? How come you never mentioned it?”

During Bakugou’s investigation, while he was investigating Hope’s Peak, he had found out that Aiba had been a student of Hope’s Peak Academy. It hadn’t meant much to him when he saw the picture, but then Bakugou realized that the girl seemed familiar. He seemed to remember that Midoriya knew her and so he told him at last night’s meeting. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but Midoriya decided to ask her about this to see if it was true or not.

“Hm? I don’t know, really.” Aiba shrugged as she went back to typing. “I guess I never thought it was important enough to mention. How’d you find out, anyway?”

“Oh, uh. We saw you in one of the yearbooks during our uh… well, we were just looking through them.” Midoriya was cautious not to let loose that he was investigating Hope’s Peak Academy. Though he wasn’t sure how good a job he was doing.

“Mm, yeah. I was at Hope’s Peak. I was always good at hacking, so I guess it made sense that I was scouted.” Aiba admitted. “It’s not that big a deal, I think. But I guess it’s what helped me get this job… probably.”

At this Midoriya looked at her with inquisitive eyes, silently prompting her to explain in further detail.

“Munakata gave me a better starting position than what’s normal for someone with no recorded work experience after graduating. Plus, I was the one who introduced Gentle to him. I don’t know if he would have hired him if it weren’t for me. No, that part might be a stretch. I heard that many former villains who did much worse than things than we did were allowed to work for him.”

“A-ah, is that so…?”

Though it wasn’t quite accurate to say that Aiba had no experience in her field of study after graduation. After all, she used her talents to track down Gentle and help him infiltrate UA High. However, since these actions were technically against the law, Aiba didn’t feel comfortable listing them on a resume, leading to a gap between her graduation and the present day. Due to Midoriya’s kind heart, both she and Gentle avoided being branded as villains despite their actions on the day of the UA Culture Festival, but it still had been difficult for her to explain what she had been up to during this unexplained time.

Fortunately or otherwise, it seemed that Munakata gave strong preferential treatment to those who once attended or graduated from Hopes’ Peak Academy, though it might be more accurate to call it a bias against those who didn’t.

“He didn’t care about criminal records or the missing time I spent out of school.” Aiba added. “I guess that shouldn’t be too surprising…”

Hearing this, Midoriya perked up. “Um, I actually came to ask about Hope’s Peak. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about it.”

“Hope’s Peak?” Aiba sounded confused. “That’s right, you mentioned it earlier but… why are you so interested in that school anyway?”

“Oh, well uh, one of my friends… he came from there.”

“Came from…?” Aiba was confused by Midoriya’s odd choice of words.

“It’s a bit tough to explain.” Midoriya looked embarrassed as he pressed the tips of his fingers together. “I’d just like your opinion. Y’know? What did you think about the school?”

Aiba pressed a finger to her chin as she stared upwards in thought. “Mmm, it was okay, I guess. They didn’t operate like a regular high school though. It was less structured than I was expecting.”

“Oh? What do you mean by that?” Midoriya was curious, he hadn’t heard of anything like that from Bakugou.

“They didn’t care if you came to class or not. They wanted you to focus on improving your talent as much as possible, so students were generally encouraged to do whatever they wanted as long as they were working towards that goal. And there was only one thing you had to do to graduate from the school too. You had to show off how much your talent had improved in front of a panel of judges, so the final examination would be different for each student.”

“Huh, that’s pretty interesting.” Midoriya said and meant it. He thought back to Bakugou, and why he didn’t mention any of this during his briefing. He supposed that since it technically wasn’t relevant to Kamukura, he didn’t decide to include it. Though Midoriya was sure that Bakugou must have known about all of this as well from his research.

“Yeah, I guess.” Aiba shrugged and tapped away on her keyboard. “It was good since I didn’t really have the energy to go to class after a while. So I just stayed inside and focused on improving my hacking.”

“Oh, that’s…” Midoriya found himself at a loss for words.

He had come here to get more information about Hope’s Peak Academy. Apparently, Bakugou only discovered Aiba’s connection to the school recently, and so he didn’t have time to include her in his research. Instead, they decided that Midoriya should be the one to ask her about it since they knew that he was close to her. Midoriya thought that this would be a good opportunity to get a perspective on the school from someone he personally knew.

The other Future Foundation members that came from Hope’s Peak, Kizakura, Yukizome, Munakata, or Tengan, they all seemed to know or have heard of Hope’s Peak’s dark secrets that Bakugou had uncovered, and so they didn’t want to ask them. Since Midoriya was relatively sure that a student would be less likely to know about matters relating to the Kamukura Project, the Steering Committee, or the Reserve Course, they would be a good target to get information from. But now it seemed that Midoriya had done something wrong.

“Um, a-are you okay?” He asked, out of concern for his friend. Aiba looked over and smiled.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Not all my memories of the school were pleasant, but that’s only to be expected right?” She waved off the bad feeling that had been lingering in the air. It seemed to Midoriya that she didn’t want to talk about it with him. So instead, he decided to change the conversation to a different topic.

“Um, earlier you mentioned something about Munakata not caring about criminal records or something…?”

This was the information that Midoriya had come to gather. Bakugou raved about how the school would utterly disregard the law just so they could research talent or gather funding. They wanted to find out just how far the school was willing to go from the perspective of one of their own students.

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Well, I kinda don’t wanna say this as one of their graduates, but I felt that Hope’s Peak was kind of weird when it came to their students. I mean, I sorta told you this already but they let us get away with pretty much anything. Um, I remember one time a couple of my classmates went overboard with a project and blew a giant hole in the walls of one of the classrooms. None of them received any punishment for that and the wall was fixed in like, just a few days later.”

“Whoa, really?” Midoriya asked, more than a little surprised by the story.

“Yeah, it was pretty crazy, but I got used to it.” Aiba said. “And of course, there were the rumours that Hope’s Peak would bail out any of its students’ illegal activities while they were enrolled. I’m not sure if that was just a rumour or not though.”

“There was a rumour like that?” Asked Midoriya curiously. He certainly felt that he has heard nothing but bad things about Hope’s Peak over the recent few days. He wondered how they even managed to maintain such a prestigious reputation despite all of what they’ve learned.

“Um, yeah. But honestly, I think you’d be better off asking someone like Munakata or Tengan. I was just a student after all. I’m not sure how helpful I can be in whatever it is your looking for.”

“Oh no. That’s not true at all.” Midoriya denied. “I kind of wanted a perspective of someone who only went to school there but didn’t work there. Plus, I feel more comfortable talking with someone I already know pretty well.”

“Oh. Well in that case feel free to ask me anything you want. I’ll be sure to answer to the best of my ability.” Aiba promised cheerfully and the two began chatting about the time she spend at Hope’s Peak Academy.

* * *

Yukizome hummed as she rearranged the papers on the desk. Her movements were smooth and well-trained, as one would come to expect of the former Ultimate Housekeeper. From a nearby wall, Sakakura watched her with a nonplussed attitude. He had his arms crossed and was leaning against the wall, scowling as he checked the time.

He turned back to his friend, who seemed to have pulled out a cloth from out of nowhere and had started wiping down the desk. “Yukizome.” He called out to her. Yukizome didn’t look up, she was too absorbed in her work.

“Yukizome.” Sakakura called again, louder this time. This time, she noticed and turned towards him. “What are you doing? Munakata didn’t ask you to clean his desk. He just called us here for a meeting.”

Yukizome looked down and frowned. “I know.” She sighed. “I just can’t help it. Besides, I’m kind of restless. You know what this meeting is about, don’t you, Juzo?”

“Yeah.” Sakakura responded, then turned back to the wall clock. Signalling his annoyance at how late Munakata was despite being the one that called them there. “Do what you want.” He said without looking at Yukizome, who went right back to work without his prompting.

A few minutes passed. The room silent save for the Housekeeper’s occasional humming. Suddenly, the door opened gently, and a tall man dressed in a white suit stepped inside. Munakata had finally arrived.

“I apologize that I could not arrive sooner.” He said as he closed the door behind him. Yukizome and Sakakura stopped what they were doing and were diligently listening. “The discussion with the other Future Foundation leaders went on for longer than I had anticipated. But I don’t intend to make excuses. Have you been waiting long?”

“Nah.” Sakakura elegantly denied it while Yukizome stuffed her tools back into her apron pocket. They sat down in front of Munakata’s desk and waited for him to sit down himself. He stared down at the now immaculate desk, with his papers organized and dust wiped clean. He looked up at Yukizome who smiled back at him.

“You didn’t have-“ Munakata started then stopped himself. He cleared his throat. “Thank you. This is very much appreciated.”

Yukizome beamed even brighter while Sakakura look between the two of them. He turned away and bit his lip, careful not to let either of them notice.

“Now, as for the reason that I called the two of you here today.” Munakata began to speak. Yukizome and Sakakura sat upright in their chairs. “The heroes have encountered another member of Ultimate Despair. One ‘Ibuki Mioda’ or so I’m told.” He looked towards Yukizome. “I’m sorry.”

She took a moment before she started speaking. Her shoulders slumped as she tilted her head downwards, unable to meet their gazes. “She was a good girl. Bright, energetic, and cheerful. She always tried to get everyone involved in activities and made sure no one was left out. She got along with just about everyone in the class. I can hardly believe that someone like her would…”

“If they fell into despair then it just means that they weren’t talented enough-“

“No! You’re wrong!” Yukizome cut off Sakakura’s words with a shout. She then calmed herself and continued. “That couldn’t be the case. They were all excellent students. None of them should have… should have…”

Sakakura pursed his lips and looked away. Munakata glanced at Sakakura, admonishing him with a look before turning a sympathetic gaze to Yukizome. Inwardly, Sakakura cursed himself.

“Either way, from the evidence that we have so far. I think it’s getting more and more likely that 77th class, the class that you taught…”

Yukizome said nothing as Munakata faltered. She looked down at her apron, her hands clutched into fists.

“Just say it.” Sakakura said simply, not wishing to draw out his friends’ torture.

Munakata cleared his throat. “I think it’s time that we accept the possibility that the 77th class of Hope’s Peak Academy have joined Ultimate Despair’s ranks. At least, judging from the information that we have been able to gather thus far.”

“…” The room was silent as they let that information sink in.

“So? What are we gonna do about it?” Sakakura asked after a while.

“We have to tell everyone. It’s important information that will help out in the Future Foundation’s investigations.” Yukizome said. “We need to…”

“I agree with you. But I’m not sure we should do that just yet.” Said Munakata calmly.

“Why not?” Sakakura questioned. “We have known members of Ultimate Despair, we should make sure that everyone knows about them, so they’re not caught unawares again. Just like with Kamukura, we need to tell people that these guys are dangerous. So that they can react accordingly if encountered. We don’t want another situation where heroes don’t know they’re talking to a member of Ultimate Despair and get caught by a sneak attack like the groups that faced off against the chef or the gymnast.”

“Sakakura’s right.” Yukizome added onto his words. “Plus… I just can’t take it anymore. What good will keeping quiet do for us?”

“There are many reasons that we should delay the spread of information.” Munakata countered. “For one, people will begin to doubt you, Yukizome, as you were their teacher. We can’t have that. Tensions between divisions are weary enough as is. We don’t want to add unnecessary fuel to the fire.”

“Maybe they’re right to doubt me.” Yukizome said quietly. “After all, I’m the one who should have been taking care of them.”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about.” Munakata denied. “I’m saying that they might doubt your loyalty to the Foundation. As someone who has connection to many members of Ultimate Despair, they might think you’ve been compromised. This has nothing to do with ability, at the very least.”

“So that’s your reason?” Sakakura asked. “I guess it makes sense. When will we announce it then?”

“When we’re sure that we can control the damage that an announcement like this will cause, to make sure that they do not place any doubts on the Foundation. Nor on Hope’s Peak Academy.”

“So you just want to protect the pride of the school?” Yukizome asked, not altogether shocked at his old friend’s words, though she didn’t like it. “How much does that school’s reputation mean to you?”

“It… I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” Munakata looked resigned. “I believe that the world can go back to the way it once was. And so we should be preparing well in advance for that eventuality.”

“Well, don’t you only want to tell everyone because you feel guilty about what happened?” Sakakura turned to Yukizome and voiced his own opinion on the matter, hoping to even things out between the two of them. They both knew he was right, but their faces grew even more resigned as they understood this. They both had selfish reasons for what they wanted to do. Neither of them could argue with that fact, and it made it all the more difficult to try and persuade the other party.

They looked to Sakakura instead.

“Then, what are your thoughts, Sakakura?” Munakata asked politely. “Since we are split on the matter, I think it’s prudent to hear the opinions of a third-party.”

“Well, Juzo?” Yukizome looked at him with sad eyes while Munakata fixed him with a steely gaze. “What do you think we should do?”

Sakakura gulped. He looked back and forth between his two friends. Perspiration gathered on his brow, though not enough to be damning. “I think… Munakata’s idea is best.” He said after a moment’s deliberation. “Delaying the announcement will be more advantageous in the long run.”

Those words hung in the air for a moment before Yukizome let out what sounded like a relieved sigh. “I guess I should’ve expected that.” She said carefully. “You always pick Kyosuke’s side when we need to decide on something.” She said this jokingly, and Sakakura couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt deep in his stomach. He glanced up at Munakata, who had closed his eyes deep in thought. It didn’t seem like he would notice his discomfort.

He looked back and forth once more between his two friends. Yukizome seemed calm, while Munakata was like a turbulent sea. He was pressing his thumbs up against his forehead, and he seemed to be in mild discomfort.

It was then that Sakakura realized something. Had they… had they both wanted him to pick the other one’s suggestion? Each of their options had been inherently selfish. Yukizome wanted to assuage her guilty conscience, while Munakata had wanted to protect the pride of Hope’s Peak. With neither of them wanting to seem like they budged on their positions, had they been hoping that he would pick the other side’s idea, so they didn’t have to lose face by relenting on their own positions? Is that what’s going on here?

It was true. All the tension surrounding Yukizome seemed to have magically disappeared while a dark cloud hung above Munakata’s head. Sakakura’s heart lurched as he realized the truth of what had just occurred. What should he do? Should he call out to them and say that he changed his mind? That wouldn’t be ideal, right? If he did that, then he would just come across as indecisive.

This was the feeling of being unable to change your stance, so you hoped that a third-party would go against what you decided just so you didn’t have feel the shame of having to admit you were wrong. Sakakura understood it now, he understood what his two friends had been feeling just mere moments ago, thought it was not far too late for him to change anything.

“Ah, looks like I lost. Guess we’re going with your idea, Kyosuke.” Yukizome said this with a regretful tone of voice, but it was clear that she was eager to move on.

Munakata simply nodded and grunted once, to acknowledge that he was the victor. He didn’t glance at either of them, opting to merely stare at his immaculate desk, lost in thought.

“Then… it’s settled.” Munakata said finally after some time. “I’ll reflect more on this until I can come up with a suitable plan. Then, I will share that plan with all of you. That’s all I had wanted to talk about for now. If there are no further questions, then this meeting can be adjourned.”

They didn’t have anything more to say and so they decided to head out. As he left, Sakakura dragged his feet upon the floor. Internally, he was reflecting on his mistake. He had believed that following Munakata would bring them prosperity and allow the Future Foundation to flourish in these times of despair. He wasn’t very good at planning things out, thinking ahead, or being flexible, so he had decided to rely on Munakata’s decisions, and he was sure that everything would turn out okay. Only today did he realize the mistake that he had been making.

His thinking was too shallow, too simple. Munakata didn’t need someone who blindly agreed with everything he said, and today had proven that. No, he valued Sakakura’s opinion and that was why he had asked for it. He would only be betraying Munakata’s trust in him as a friend by behaving in this manner.

Though, it was ironic. Part of the reason he was acting like this stemmed from his previous betrayal. He had lied to Munakata about Junko Enoshima, saying that she wasn’t suspicious and that their investigation had led them to the wrong person. That was the start of it, he imagined, that was the start of the guilt that gnawed at him and made him feel like he could no longer trust in his own decisions.

He shook his head. No good would come from stewing on his troubled past.

So they will announce the suspected members of Ultimate Despair after a bit of delay, then? Well, that was the decision he chose but he didn’t really understand it. What are the benefits to announcing it now to announcing it later? They had asked Sakakura for an informed opinion, but he honestly didn’t know. Well, it hardly mattered anyway. Sooner or later, the truth would come out, all he could do was to be there for Yukizome when it did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author notes:
> 
> Next week: another member of Ultimate Despair.
> 
> Your hint this week: The last scene is important. Which member of the class would be most effective at ruining the big three’s plans?  
> Of course, these aren’t the only hints that I’ve been providing. If you’ve been looking closely, I pretty much always give a big hint as to who the next despair will be. Though I don't draw attention to those hints.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_Slice. Slice. Slice_

_Click. Click. Click._

_…_

_Slice. Slice. Slice._

_Click._

_Slice. Slice._

The man’s pain receptors were working in overtime as his muffled screams bounced off of the cold, metal walls. Every slice of the blade caused his brain to feel like it was going to explode. Tears had been flowing out of his eyes for so long they felt crusty. Snot rolled out of his nose and wrapped around his cheek and down onto his chin. It was disgusting, it was sticky, but his hands were tied, and he couldn’t move his body to wipe it off.

Blinking through his teary eyes, he was able to get a good view of his tormentors, who were currently both looking at him with odd expressions. One of the girls was holding the knife, its blade glistening with deep, red blood that dripped without care onto the floor. The other girl was standing at his left. She frowned, paced back and forth with slow, deliberate footsteps, then tilted her head.

_Click._

The girl looked dissatisfied. Some movement occurred and the other girl reached out and was handed a tiny tool that the man couldn’t identify at the angle his head was at. The girl tilted her head and took the tool silently. She moved closer and suddenly he longed for those brief moments of ignorance. The man began struggling in his bonds, desperately trying to move his head out of the way and scream for help. A pair of hands grabbed his head from behind to steady him and the girl plunged the melon baller deep into his eye.

“Mmmmpphhhh!” The man screamed as intense pain rushed into his head. He could feel the cold steel rubbing against the inside of his socket, his optic nerve snapping and the loss of his eye. Twisting it around a bit, the girl scooped the eyeball out and dumped it on the floor. He could feel liquid dripping down and out from his empty socket, there was some from his other eye as well, those were probably more of his tears.

The man shivered and convulsed despite his bonds. He wasn’t even trying to free himself anymore. This was merely a reactionary instinct to the sheer amount of pain he was feeling at the moment. He twisted, turned, shuddered, and shook until he was out of breath. He panted through the old rag stuffed in his mouth, sweat rolled down his forehead, narrowly missing the large, gaping hole he had in the middle of his face.

_Click._

The girl looked up from behind her camera and frowned. She sighed and shook her head disappointingly. She wasn’t annoyed at the man, it seemed more like she was annoyed with herself. She moved back and adjusted the light source, moving it down and directly over the man’s face so that the light was shining directly into his remaining eye.

As she was fiddling around with the lamp, the other girl went back to a large box of tools. The sound of her reaching her hand into the box and rummaging around inside filled the now silent room. After a brief period of searching, it seemed she’d finally found what she was looking for. The girl picked something out and held it up to the other girl who looked at it quizzically.

“A mallet?” She asked, letting her camera hang from her neck as she cautiously took it with both of her hands. She swung it around a little, testing the weapon and getting a feel for its weight. “You sure?”

“Fingers and toes are densely packed with nerves, making them an ideal spot to-“

“Hey.” She was interrupted by a casual greeting. They turned to see another girl, peeking in from the doorway. Without waiting for an invitation, the newcomer freely entered the room. Of course, it would be clear to anyone watching that the girls were all equals here. The others looked at the newcomer with a confused expression. As if they weren’t expecting her intrusion, but it wasn’t an unwelcome one either.

“Something the matter?” The girl holding the mallet asked.

“We have visitors.” Said the newcomer.

“Visitors?” Asked the other girl in the room. “Someone we know?”

“That’s right.”

“Someone from class?” The girl scrunched up her face. Clearly, it was the most likely answer. But it still didn’t seem to make sense to her. Why would one of them be visiting her now? They either had their own missions to do or were leisurely enjoying their free time. She didn’t think any of them would choose to come here.

“Nope.” The newcomer denied with a quick shake of the head. “Heroes.”

“Heroes?” The girl raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Well, it’s about time.” She said, then frowned. “Wait, what heroes do we know… Oh, you mean _him_?”

“That’s right.”

The man craned his head as much as he could, struggling against the tight leather straps around his neck. Hope blossomed at the sound of the word “hero.” Was he going to be rescued? Had heroes come to save him? They had to, right? That was what heroes did. Sure, the Tragedy had put a damper on things, but a hero was still a hero. And if they came here then they must have come to rescue him, right? After all, he was the mayor of this town. He was important. Surely, people would be worried if someone like him had been taken away in the middle of the night, right?

How long had it been since he was captured? He didn’t know. All he could remember was waking up in this discomforting room and strapped to this large reclining chair. His limbs were completely bound, and his mouth was gagged with some rag not altogether dissimilar to a dirty sock. His captives had taken their turns with torturing him. One of them taking a couple of snapshots with a camera every once in a while and looking disappointed.

He had no idea jut what they could have possibly wanted from him. Information? Then why was he gagged? Did they want to use him as a hostage? That would explain the injuries and the picture-taking at the base level, but why did they need so many pictures? And surely there had to be a limit to how cruel his tormentors could act, even if they were members of Ultimate Despair. He wouldn’t make a very good hostage if he were dead, could he? And what about his family? Were they safe? He had so many questions, but it appeared that none of them would be answered.

The worst part was these girls hadn’t said a single word to him since his torment began. They only talked to one another, and they only spoke with a few words at a time. It was as if they could all guess what the other was thinking.

Well, that probably wasn’t too far fetched of an idea.

But heroes have come. Actual heroes! Sure, they would be going up against a member of Ultimate Despair. But what was that to heroes? They’d win easily, beat her up, rescue him, and take him back to family, where he belonged. Sure, he’d lost an eye, and his limbs were cut so bad he might never be able to use them again. But just being able to escape the grasp of Ultimate Despair would be a victory in and of itself. He’d gladly trade an eye, an ear, or any other body part just to escape alive. Even a kidney, maybe. Maybe.

The man refocused his thoughts on the three girls that gathered around him.

“You want me to handle it?” The newcomer asked, already starting to make her way out.

“No, wait.” The girl with the camera called out. “I wanna see them for myself. Help me finish up over here, okay?”

The newcomer paused and turned her gaze to the bound man on the chair. “Ah, you’ve given up on this one?”

No, no, no, no, no. What did “finish up” mean? What did “give up” mean? Certainly they wouldn’t. They couldn’t! Fear rose from the deepest pits of his stomach as the three girls surrounded him. The gazes they cast down upon him. They weren’t the cruel, merciless, almost predatory gazes of an Ultimate Despair. They were almost sad, disappointed even. Their eyes were filled with what looked almost like regret.

“Don’t kill me then!” The man wanted to shout. “Let me live!” But he couldn’t. Even if he tried, even if he could force his mouth not to stutter and shake, his words would be too muffled to sound coherent. All he could do was watch.

One of them held a knife, one of them a mallet, and last one just grabbed something out of the box at random. It was a pair of scissors.

No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. What happened to the hope? What happened to that brief glimmer that he had felt just moments ago? Didn’t they want answers? Didn’t they want a ransom? What did they even want with him? It couldn’t end like this, not when he was so close to being saved! The man felt the flame of hope inside him flicker, then die out completely.

“Oh.” The girl with the camera around her neck paused. She stared at the man intensely. “That’s the expression we want to see.” The girl quickly picked up her camera and clicked it with a frenetic pace.

The other two stared at him curiously. Their gazes shifted back and forth between the girl snapping pictures and the man on the chair. “Was it because he understood he was going to die?” One of them voiced a theory.

“That could be it.” The other one nodded and looked at the others. “Maybe we should try talking to them more. There seems to be only so much we could do just by hurting them.”

The first girl looked up from her camera and sighed. “I’d like to experiment a little more with this but, ah, we shouldn’t keep our guests waiting. I guess it really is time to finish up over here.”

As she said this a figure stepped out from inside of the girl. It had the form of a shadowy apparition made of thin, billowing smoke. But as it completed its transition, it had fully formed and looked no different from a regular human. The same happened for the other two girls and there were suddenly six people standing in the room. All wearing the same face and the same clothes.

The man looked up at the people surrounding him. His hopes had been squashed long before and only despair remained. He did not feel an ounce of terror, already his senses of pain had dulled. He stared up at the six clones of the same woman and felt nothing. A bit further up was the harsh lighting of the lamp that shone directly on his face.

 _If you could turn it down a little._ He thought numbly. _That’d be better for my eye._

This was a man that had accepted his own death.

* * *

The three heroes peered into the building through the transparent, glass doors outside. Looking inwards, they found the interior to be completely normal. Though they could only see the reception desk and the waiting area, there was no way for them to see any of the actual exhibits just by looking in through the window.

Midoriya was the one who spoke first. “So, this is the place then.” He said, taking a few steps back to appreciate the size of the establishment they had been directed to. “Y’know, I’ve never been to a photography museum before.”

“Me neither.” Todoroki admitted as he took a few steps back as well. He looked thoughtful, as if he was recalling his past. “Though, we didn’t go out much. As a family.”

“Kacchan, what about you?” Midoriya posed the question to Bakugou, who joined them.

“’Course not.” He scoffed. “What do you take me for?”

“Well, I don’t know, I was just wond-“

“’Sides, our goal isn’t to sightsee.” He continued, interrupting Midoriya. “It’s to find all the missing people. So you better be taking this seriously.”

“I know that.” Midoriya said, feeling a little miffed. “I was just wondering, that’s all. I know what our mission is, don’t worry.”

“Speaking of that, how do you suppose we go about getting inside?” Todoroki asked. “We can’t very well barge in through the front door, can we?”

“Why not?” Bakugou shrugged. “Get in, take a look around and get out. Simple as that.”

“But what if this really is an Ultimate Despair hideout? We could be walking right into a trap.” Midoriya argued.

“What, and you think that the side entrances _won’t_ be trapped as well?” Bakugou countered. “If anything, they’ll be even more heavily guarded than the main entrance.”

“Well, that’s a good point, I suppose.” Todoroki accepted. He glanced inwards at the interior of the building. There didn’t seem to be any people inside of it, but that didn’t mean it was abandoned. “But I’d feel silly for just walking into the enemy’s base through the front.”

“You’d feel even dumber if you snuck in for no reason.” Bakugou said, glaring at the others. “How sure are we that Ultimate Despair is in here? How much do we trust those intelligence reports anyway?”

“They should be trustworthy, I think.” Todoroki answered. “Yukizome herself was in charge of them. Though I suppose none of us have actually seen their contents for ourselves.”

He glanced at Midoriya who shook his head, indicating that Todoroki was right.

“Still, I think we can trust her. She’s the head of the intelligence division of the Future foundation after all.”

“Hmph.” Bakugou grunted. “Then how do we get in?”

“It’s a museum so it’ll likely have anti-theft protection to begin with.” Midoriya mumbled. “Maybe the front entrance really is the only way to get in.” Midoriya looked to his friend. “Todoroki?”

Todoroki sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” He relented. “Though I sure do hope this decision doesn’t come back to haunt us.”

They made their ways to the front door. Carefully, Midoriya grasped hold of the handle with his gloved hand. Twisting it, he gently pushed the door open. A brief feeling of surprise as he noted that the door wasn’t locked, before he stepped inside and let the door close behind him. Midoriya surveyed his surroundings before turning back to his teammates, who were still outside the building.

Todoroki and Bakugou looked at one another and followed Midoriya’s lead. Once all three of them were inside, they looked around once more.

“Well, that was anticlimactic.” Todoroki admitted.

“What’d you expect? A siren? A machinegun? A welcome party?” Bakugou asked sarcastically.

“I’m not sure, to be honest. In any case, now that we’re inside, what should we do?”

“Splitting up would allow us to cover more ground.” Midoriya said. “But we’d be safer if we traveled together.”

“Hmm, I’m also against the idea of splitting up. Especially since we don’t have any means of long-range communication if we encounter an enemy. Bakugou, what do you think?”

“Yeah, we should probably stick together.” Bakugou said after a brief pause.

Midoriya’s and Todoroki’s eyes widened at the same time. They both turned to Bakugou.

“What?” Bakugou asked upon seeing their faces, almost certain of what was coming, and feeling himself get more and more pissed every second.

“I never thought that you would agree to stick together. It was surprising, to say the least.”

“Huuh?!” Bakugou made an annoyed sound. “Then why would you ask me if you already knew the answer?”

“Just a courtesy really.” Todoroki admitted.

“Tch.” Bakugou clicked his tongue in annoyance, then looked back at his teammates. “You really think-Okay, look. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it already.”

“Hm? Noticed what, Kacchan?”

Bakugou gestured with his arms. “Look around you. Look at _us_. Don’t you notice anything?”

Todoroki and Midoriya slowly turned their gazes towards each other, both of them deep in thought as to what Bakugou could be meaning.

“Well.” Todoroki spoke after a moment. “I suppose there _is_ something worth noting about our team. I do believe we three have been referred to as the strongest in class 1-A. Not counting Kamukura that is.”

“Oh, yeah I noticed that as well.” Midoriya looked at Bakugou inquisitively. “But what about it? The fact that we’re all on a team together, do you think it means something?”

“It could.” Bakugou said. “Just think about this mission and what kind of mission it is.”

Midoriya paused. This mission? It was supposed to be a simple investigation into people that had been going missing around town. The Future Foundation had feared there were kidnappings going on, and when they looked deeper, they had discovered the possibility that this museum was being used as a base of operations for Ultimate Despair.

They had been tasked with two things. Looking into the museum and seeing if it had any connection with the missing townspeople. It seemed like a simple enough job. They had plenty of special missions like this before. They usually didn’t amount to anything though. Well, except the time they encountered Owari and fought her inside her own house.

“Our mission…? It’s an investigation, no? We’re meant to find the missing people of this town. The people that have been taken in the middle of the night.”

“And to do that we’re going to be investigating… this museum.” A flash of realization struck Midoriya as he realized what Bakugou was getting at. “They’re sending us directly into a place that’s suspected to be a hideout for Ultimate Despair.”

“Even though previously we were told to avoid Ultimate Despair.” Todoroki added, also picking up on what his friends were thinking. “So the fact that they chose the strongest students…”

“It’s because they know it’ll be a dangerous job.” Midoriya finished for Todoroki. “So they chose people they know could handle it.”

“You know, I’ve been hearing talks about how Munakata and Tengan wanted the students to be more involved in handling Despair. This could be a test trial for that.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Bakugou nodded.

“So, the reason you wanted to stick together was because you knew this could get dangerous?” Midoriya asked.

“What? No.” Bakugou denied. “I’m thinking, Aizawa’s the one that’s usually all about keeping the student heroes safe and on the easy missions. Well, if we show them that we can handle a request like this, then they’ll have to give us tougher missions. Easy as that.” Bakugou grinned as he revealed his reasoning.

“Of course.” Todoroki sighed. “It would be something like that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bakugou asked rhetorically. He was already moving away from the group and signalling them to follow.

Todoroki moved first, which prompted Midoriya as well. He looked at his friend from where he was standing.

 _Well, I suppose it means he understands the danger we’re facing as well._ Thought Midoriya. _In his own way at least._

* * *

After a while, they had finished surveying the first floor. None of them had found anything worthy of note. No secret passageways, no evidence of Despair, and certainly no sign of the kidnapped people. There was one thing, however, that grabbed their attention.

“There’s hardly any dust on the floor.” Todoroki noted. “Someone must be using this place. Even though it looks completely empty.”

They went upstairs and resumed their search. As they were working, the heroes suddenly heard a sound coming from behind the corner and past the hallway. Bakugou signalled for the others to be quiet as they listened to sound.

It sounded like a woman’s voice humming to herself as well as a strange scraping sound along the floors. The noise was getting closer and closer.

Silently, the heroes hid behind the wall and waited for the person to draw near before they sprang into action. As a figure turned the corner, Bakugou leapt and grabbed them, one hand on the collar and another on their wrist.

“Got you!”

“Wha-? Hey!”

A long, thin object dropped to the floor with a clatter and Todoroki quickly unleashed his quirk, freezing it in a chunk of solid Ice so that it would pose no danger to them.

“Let go of me!” The girl struggled in Bakugou’s tight grasp, but he wouldn’t relent. Midoriya readied One for All: Full Cowl through his body and Todoroki channeled both Fire and Ice into his hands.

“I said let go!” The girl grabbed Bakugou’s wrist with her free hand and started kicking at Bakugou’s knees, but he didn’t relent. Midoriya blinked, was there something familiar about this girl?

“Shut up!” Bakugou yelled, holding out strong against his shins being kicked with great force. “How many more of you are in here?”

“W-wait, Kacchan…”

“Ugh, what do you want with me?! I’m telling you to let me go!” the girl kicked and screamed without pause.

“Uh, Kacchan…”

“Where did all the townspeople go? What’s Ultimate Despair’s plans here?” Bakugou asked.

“What are you talking about?!”

“Kacchan! Let her go!” Midoriya shouted, gathering the attention of everyone present.

“Huh? Deku?” Bakugou turned around and stared at him in confusion, his hands still holding onto his captive.

“Wait…” the girl stopped as well, her hand frozen on Bakugou’s wrist. She took a good look at the boy that was standing behind Bakugou. “Midoriya? Is that you?”

That got everyone’s attention. Upon hearing the girl utter Midoriya’s name, Todoroki and Bakugou were in states of utter confusion.

“What? Midoriya? What’s going on?” Todoroki whipped his head back and forth between the girl and his friend, his quirk slowly fading from his hands. “Do you two know each other?”

Midoriya looked sheepish as he let the power of Full Cowl dissipate. “Yeah, I do. So uh, Kacchan, can you let her go now? Please?”

Wordlessly, Bakugou relinquished the grip he had on both her collar and her wrist. The girl took a step back and readjusted her collar. She glared at Bakugou. “Thank you.” She said, her tone dripping with venom.

“A-ah, um. Todoroki, Kacchan, this is Mahiru Koizumi.” Midoriya started introducing them, looking thoroughly embarrassed. “And Koizumi, these are my friends and classmates, Shouto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugou.”

“A _pleasure_ to meet you all.” Koizumi greeted with gritted teeth, with clear signs of hostility still present in her voice. She turned to Midoriya. “And here I thought you went to a school for heroes. Last I checked heroes didn’t typically go around breaking and entering into museums and assaulting the poor, innocent women who work there.”

“W-we’re really sorry, Koizumi!” Midoriya stammered out an apology while bowing deeply. Beside him, Todoroki stirred at Koizumi’s words.

“Breaking and entering?” He repeated.

“Well, duh.” Koizumi spoke as if she was dealing with a child. “I mean, all the entrances to this place are sealed shut. So you had to have…” She trailed off, thought for a second and gasped. “No! I forgot to lock the front door, didn’t I? Agh…” She looked embarrassed then quickly recovered with a huff. “Well, that still doesn’t give you an excuse to just go around assaulting people!”

“I’m very sorry…” Todoroki said politely.

“So you two know each other?” Bakugou and Todoroki were both still trying to wrap their heads around this new information. “Does that mean that she’s not with Ultimate Despair?”

“Uh, _excuse you_?” Koizumi took offense to his words and stepped closer. Bakugou didn’t step back so their faces were less than an inch apart. “Need I remind you which one of us is going around scaring the wits out of unsuspecting people? Not to even mention your costume. It’s a wonder you don’t get mistaken for a villain with that alone.”

“What was that?!” Bakugou asked with great incredulity. “My costume does _not_ look like a villain’s!”

“Well, now that you mention it…” Todoroki muttered under his breath. To which Bakugou promptly turned around.

“You’ve got something to say?!” Bakugou wheeled around at Todoroki, then at Midoriya. “Deku?”

“U-uh, no comment.” Midoriya smartly chose to remain silent on the whole affair. Instead, he turned to Koizumi. “Anyway, we’re really sorry about the whole thing. Can you please forgive us?”

“Jeez…” Koizumi looked annoyed. “Hmph. I guess I can look the other way just this once. But all three of you are going to owe me." She crossed her arms and started stamping her foot. “Now out with it. Why exactly are the three of you here? Although it may not look like it, the museum is closed to outsiders. The director is taking a leave of absence. Not like regular attendance was that great anyway.”

“We were looking into the recent disappearances in the nearby area.” Todoroki explained. “Our intelligence reports stated that this building was suspicious and so they sent us here to check it out.”

“Oh, so the Future Foundation is finally looking into those. Great. I certainly appreciate how timely they tackle problems as they come up. It’s only been how many months since the first-“ Koizumi said sarcastically before stopping abruptly. She looked at the heroes with a confused expression. “Wait, you said this museum was suspicious? How could this museum possibly seem suspicious? What’s so suspicious about it, huh? Tell me.”

“Well, that’s… We didn’t get to see the contents of the report in question, so…” Midoriya’s blush turned even deeper under the force of Koizumi’s questioning.

Koizumi sighed. “Figures. Well, do you even have a warrant? Or are all your investigations solved by hoping that someone left the front door unlocked for you to get in?”

“Oh! Uh… here!” Midoriya rooted through his pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed it to Koizumi. She took it from him, skimmed it over, and looked impressed.

“Huh, so you do have a warrant.” She said, handing the paper back to Midoriya. “Well, I guess there’s no harm in letting you look around for a bit.”

“Ah, thanks Koizumi.” Midoriya smiled.

“Don’t mention it.” Koizumi shrugged and shook her head. “But you seriously owe me big time after this Midoriya. You got that?”

“A-ah, yes! I’m sorry!” Midoriya nodded nervously.

“And don’t say you’re sorry for every little thing. If you say it so much it’ll start to lose its meaning. Seriously, you haven’t changed at all since the last time we met.” Koizumi sighed. “And here I thought you’d have grown to be more reliable since before.”

“A-ah… I’m sor- ah, I mean, um…”

After staying silent for so long, Bakugou decided to interject. “So besides you, how many people are in the building right now?”

“Hm, besides me? No one.” Koizumi answered. “I work here. And I’m in charge of keeping the museum tidy while the director is away.” She pointed at the solid block of Ice that was slowly melting besides them, leaving a large puddle on the ground. “I _was_ sweeping the place up. Although it looks like I’m gonna need to mop instead. Could I have my broom back now, please?”

“Ah, right. Sorry.” Todoroki apologized. He kneeled down and channeled a small Flame in his hand to melt the broom he had froze previously.

“Wait, seriously? You’re here by yourself?” Bakugou asked. “You mean that you take care of this whole entire museum by yourself?”

Koizumi shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. I graduated just a little bit before the Tragedy began. I was already working here part-time before. I had wanted to travel a bit after graduating but that doesn’t seem like such a good idea anymore, what with all the Ultimate Despair stuff going on. Besides, all I really have to do while the director is away is to keep the place maintained.”

“Hmm.” Bakugou didn’t find anything suspicious with Koizumi’s words so he remained silent. Meanwhile, Todoroki had finished melting his own Ice and was handing back a damp broom to the photographer.

“Gee, thanks.” Koizumi said sarcastically as she gingerly took the broom in her hands. She looked down at the dripping broom, then back up at the heroes. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you let me show you around the place? I mean, I know this building like the back of my hand, so I could guide you in your search.”

“Huh? And what kind of help would you be?” Bakugou asked, not flinching at either Koizumi’s nor Midoriya’s shocked expressions. “I mean, even if you are working here, you’re not going to be much use. If our information is correct, then Ultimate Despair has been using this place as a hideout without you knowing.”

“Well.” Koizumi huffed, clearly taking offence. “And I personally don’t see how members of Ultimate Despair could possibly be using this place as a hideout without me knowing about it considering I come here every single day to tidy keep things organized. I still think your info is faulty.”

Midoriya carefully placed himself between the two of them with his hands up, signalling for them to stop fighting. “Uh, guys? I can see where the both of you are coming from, but-“

“And there’s still a possibility of you being Ultimate Despair.” Bakugou glared over Midoriya at Koizumi, who stared back just as intensely. “Just because Deku knows you doesn’t mean you’re innocent.”

“Wow, paranoid much?” Koizumi countered, completely ignoring Midoriya. It was as if he wasn’t even there. “Do you really think Ultimate Despair would just walk up and let herself get caught by a group of heroes? Are you really that dense?”

“Guys…”

“Grr…”

“Mmm…”

Though the insults have stopped, there was still electricity in the air as Bakugou and Koizumi faced off against one another. If looks could kill, one or both of them would be dead on the spot. Midoriya, who had stuck himself in the middle of the two, would be dead twice over.

“Listen to me!” Midoriya called out and he was suddenly able to gather everyone’s attention. He turned to Bakugou first.

“Kacchan. I understand that you’re on edge after what happened the last time. But Koizumi’s my friend, I trust her. Her offering to help show us around is just her trying to be helpful. If you’re really opposed to the idea then we can discuss it amongst ourselves instead of lashing out at Koizumi.” Midoriya said gently while looking Bakugou in the eyes. Bakugou held his gaze for a few seconds before looking away.

Midoriya turned to Koizumi. “Koizumi, I know you’re upset about before, and we’re really sorry about that. Especially me. And we’re sorry about breaking into the museum as well. But you have to understand. All of us are on nervous because of the Tragedy, and we’ve been ambushed by Ultimate Despair pretending to be regular people before. We don’t mean to offend you.” Koizumi’s mouth stretched to a thin line, she looked away as well.

Slowly, they both turned to one another.

“Yeah, sorry I guess.” Bakugou said while rubbing the back of his head. Koizumi grabbed her arm and glanced to the side.

“No, it’s okay. I guess I didn’t realize how tough heroes have it. It’s only natural to be suspicious of people you’ve never met before.”

Several seconds passed. From the side, Todoroki had been watching this unfold silently. He wasn’t sure as to what to say so he had decided to let Midoriya handle everything. Now that everything seemed to be resolved, he cut in. “So, now that that’s settled. What do we do now?”

Bakugou and Midoriya looked at one another, then back at Koizumi.

* * *

“So, how are things between you and that girl?” Koizumi and Midoriya were walking together, with Bakugou and Todoroki following closely behind. “Uraraka, I believe her name was? You two seemed close.”

“H-huh? What do you mean?” Midoriya quickly responded. Though the others couldn’t see from behind, they correctly guessed that his face had already turned red. “I told you, right? We’re just friends.”

“Sure, sure.” Koizumi giggled to herself.

Behind them, Todoroki turned to Bakugou. “Hey, you knew Midoriya growing up, right?”

“Uh, yeah. More or less.” Bakugou answered. “What about it?”

“And you said that you didn’t know this Koizumi person. Yet her and Midoriya know each other. Is that right?”

“What about it?” Bakugou repeated. “I’m not Deku’s keeper. It’s not like I know everything that’s going on in his life. If you want to know so bad, why don’t you ask them?”

“Hmm.” Todoroki considered for a moment, then looked up. “Hey, Midoriya?”

“Yeah? What’s up?” Midoriya turned around, smiling at his friends behind him. Koizumi turned as well.

“I was wondering how you and Koizumi came to know one another.” Todoroki said. “Due to everything that happened, I realized that we hadn’t been given an explanation beyond primary introductions.”

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot to mention that, didn’t I?” Midoriya said. “We met at the Culture Festival. While Uraraka and I were showing Eri around.”

“ **Culture Festival?** ” Todoroki and Bakugou said at the same time, then looked at one another.

“Yup.” Koizumi affirmed alongside Midoriya. “I went with a couple of friends to see the booths. We decided to split up and regroup after a while. During that time I bumped into Midoriya and Eri, then Uraraka came along. Though, I guess it was more accurate to say that Midoriya bumped into me.” As she said this, she sent a smirk at Midoriya, who blushed and looked away.

“Hahaha…”

“A couple of friends, you say?” Todoroki latched onto a detail. “What kind of friends were these?”

“Oh, just a couple of classmates that I was close to.” Koizumi said.

“Oh yeah, you said you came to take pictures, right?” Midoriya suddenly remembered. “We never got yearbooks made in time because of the Tragedy. Do you still have some of the pictures you took?”

“Oh.” Koizumi gasped. “I don’t know actually. I might, though I’m not sure. I’ll check once I get home, alright?”

“Really?” Midoriya looked excited. “You don’t have to, I mean. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Oh, no, no. Really, I wouldn’t be troubled one bit. You want to have pictures of the time you spent with your friends, right? That’s something important to have, especially now, after the Tragedy.”

While they were talking, Bakugou had a certain shoot around in his mind. He was remembering the time he had faced off against Mioda. Wasn’t there something she said? She didn’t visit the festival alone either. And if Bakugou recalled correctly, one of her friends had been…

“Hey, you said that you were there to take pictures?” Bakugou asked.

“Yeah, Koizumi wants to become a photographer, just like her mom.” Midoriya answered cheerfully. Then turned to Koizumi. “Oh, that’s why you chose a job here at a photography museum, isn’t it?”

“Mhmm.” She nodded. “I thought it’d be a good way to see what other people are doing. Though, this really was supposed to be just a temporary thing.”

“Hey…” Bakugou opened his mouth, then stopped. As if he was doubting himself for what he was about to ask.

“You said you came with your friends, right? Was one of them…” Bakugou paused, and all eyes were on him now. There was no way that he wasn’t making a complete fool of himself at this point, but he couldn’t go against the momentum that he had built up. “Was one of them called… Ibuki Mioda?”

“K-Kacchan?” Midoriya was so surprised that his eyes almost popped out of his socket. “What are you saying?” He was so surprised that he couldn’t help but nervously laugh a little at Bakugou’s thinly veiled accusation. He thought that he’d finally come to trust Koizumi, but it seemed there were still some doubts that remained.

“I hate to say this, but I think you might be a little obsessed-“

“Ah, you know Mioda?” Koizumi asked and immediately all eyes were on her. She smiled and clapped her hands together, seemingly oblivious to the now immensely tense atmosphere around them. “She’s one of my best friends. Did you meet her at the Culture Festival? Or somewhere else?”

“K-Koizumi?!”

“What- what is the meaning of this?” Todoroki asked.

“Hm?” Koizumi tilted her head at the reactions of the heroes. “So, somewhere else, I’m guessing?”

Bakugou leapt forward and grabbed Koizumi. He gripped both of her wrists and twisted them into an awkward position using his strength. This time, Midoriya didn’t object.

“What’s your relationship with Ultimate Despair? Answer me!” Bakugou twisted her arm hard. He was so angry that he was almost snarling at her.

Koizumi, to her credit, didn’t scream or kick as she had previously. Instead, she turned around and stared at Bakugou with a sly smile on her face. “Ah, you should be a little gentler, you know? You don’t want to hurt me accidentally, do you?”

“Shut up!” Bakugou shouted and twisted her arm even further. Midoriya internally winced at that, but Koizumi didn’t react in the slightest.

“Answer you? Shut up? Which do you want me to do? You’re giving me conflicting orders here and- ah.” As she was talking, Koizumi seemed to start to dissolve. Her skin turned into smoke and drifted through Bakugou’s fingers. Her features slowly diluted into a single plume of black smoke, that scattered onto the floor and dissipated in almost no time flat.

The heroes stared down at ground where Koizumi was just mere moments before, before looking up at the sound of footsteps coming towards them.

“I told you before, didn’t I?” Koizumi said as she rounded the corner and smiled serenely at the flabbergasted heroes. “Why would a member of Ultimate Despair willingly let themselves be captured by heroes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's Ultimate Despair is Mahiru Koizumi! Did you guess right? I saw two comments who were both able to guess it, so congrats to the two of you!
> 
> Koizumi’s quirk! It’s not a matter of guessing this time, it should be pretty obvious what it is. But why does it seem like there’s something I’m not telling you?
> 
> Next chapter: A day at the museum


	14. Chapter 14

“Koizumi, you…” Midoriya stared at the Koizumi who now approached them. A gentle smile on her lips, with no trace of the animosity that she carried when they had first encountered her here in the museum. She walked slowly and deliberately towards the heroes, as if they were old friends. She stopped just a couple meters away from them, basking in their stunned silence.

“Koizumi, you… Just now, what did you mean by that?” Midoriya felt his throat dry up. There could be no doubt as to the meaning behind her words just now. There was no way someone like her would joke about something as serious as this. But even so, Midoriya still wanted to believe that she was. That she was using her quirk, one that allowed her to create copies of herself it seemed, to play a prank on them. Maybe to get back at them for what had happened earlier.

Koizumi took a single breath and dashed Midoriya’s hopes in an instant. “Well, it turns out Bakugou had the right idea all along.” She spoke cheerfully, as if she was discussing with her classmates where to hang out after school. It was a tone of voice that was completely unfitting the message of her words. But the heroes had faced off against enough villains at this point not to be too weirded out by it. “I am a proud member of Ultimate Despair.”

Midoriya glanced at Bakugou. He was in silent disbelief, the same as him. The corners of his face were twisted not quite into a grimace as he stared daggers at the redhead. He looked to Todoroki. He was calm, but already in a fighting stance, ready to attack at any time.

“Oh, but don’t feel too bad about not knowing that beforehand.” Said Koizumi. “Like I said, there’s no way I’d let myself be captured so easily.”

“Damn you!” Bakugou shouted and immediately rushed ahead. He angrily grabbed Koizumi’s wrist with his hand. Koizumi’s response was to appear quite confused.

“Bakugou, what are you doing?” Todoroki asked plainly. “That’s not going to get us anywhere.”

They didn’t know where the real Koizumi was, she was just sending clones down to meet them. That was what the heroes were assuming anyway. So physically threatening the person before them would lead them nowhere. They needed to find the real Koizumi, but they had no idea where she could be hiding.

Bakugou said nothing and merely stared at Koizumi. She smiled sweetly, as if she were looking down on a foolish child’s actions. She didn’t kick or scream as she did earlier. It was likely all an act to get the heroes to lower their defenses around her.

Bakugou huffed and angrily let go of her arm. Koizumi caressed her wrist where she had been grabbed. Midoriya noted her skin had turned slightly red before refocusing his attention.

“You remember when you were asking about me maintaining this while, entire building all by myself? Well, this quirk certainly makes it a whole lot easier to deal with.” Bakugou said nothing and quietly seethed at Koizumi, glaring at her with a murderous gaze. Seeing this, Koizumi simply smiled and continued.

“Though, it does come with its own set of limitations, y’know.” Koizumi admitted. “All of the fatigue that my Clones feel gets combined into one body if I call them back after a hard day of work. So I have to make sure we all rest separately before I cancel my quirk.” Her explanation was casual. Koizumi was shrugging and had a ‘what can you do?’ type of expression on her face. “That’ll also happen if a Clone gets destroyed, like what you did just now. Ah, but don’t worry. That ‘Me’ wasn’t very tired. So, I’m feeling totally fine right now.”

“Why don’t you come down here and fight us for real instead of just sending proxies?” Bakugou snarled aggressively.

“Because I’d lose of course.” Koizumi laughed and raised her hands in mock defeat. “I know Ectoplasm is a strong hero and all, and I think one of the members of the League of Villains has a Cloning quirk too. But compared to them I’m really quite weak, y’know? So I think I’ll stick to staying far away from where all the action is, if you don’t mind.”

“So you say.” Said Todoroki. “But how do we know there aren’t a hundred different versions of you hiding around the corner, waiting to ambush us?”

To this, Koizumi simply smiled and shrugged. As if to say they can’t and would simply have to take her at her word.

“Hey, Midoriya. You feeling alright? You’ve been awfully quiet for a while now. Is something wrong?” Koizumi called out to him. She waved at Midoriya in a friendly manner, despite knowing full well the reason for his silence.

“You… you tricked me.” That was all Midoriya managed to say after some time.

“Well… only a little bit.” Koizumi giggled to herself. “I mean, I made sure the front door was unlocked, yeah. And only pretended to be scared for my life when you grabbed me. But can you really blame me? I was starting to get lonely in here all by myself with only my Clones to talk to. Is it so wrong to want to have a little fun once in a while?”

“No. That’s not what I mean.” Midoriya shook his head. “You pretended to be my friend. But from the start, from the time I met you at the Culture Festival you had been a member of Ultimate Despair.”

Koizumi blinked, then shook her head. “Well, I wouldn’t really go _that_ far. I just… never told you, that’s all. Same with Mioda. Sure, you could go and call us villains, but technically speaking, we hadn’t even broken any laws at that point when we came to your Culture Festival. At that point in time, we were little more than a group that called ourselves ‘Ultimate Despair’.”

Koizumi looked wistful, as if fondly reminiscing on old memories. Then she turned to Midoriya. “And I never _pretended_ to be friends with you. We are friends.” She tilted her head. “Aren’t we?”

“Wha-?” Midoriya was completely taken aback. Did Koizumi really just ask him that? Was she serious? Midoriya was barely able to string together a coherent response. “F-friends? You want to be friends? But you’re… you’re Ultimate Despair.” Midoriya pointed out.

Koizumi pouted. “Well, yeah. But that doesn’t really matter, right?”

“Ultimate Despair… they’re the group that started the Tragedy.” Midoriya looked at Koizumi with saddened eyes as he recounted. “They _killed_ over 90% of the hero population. Turned most places into a wasteland. All for the sake of some ideal that I can’t even begin to comprehend.”

“Okay, yeah. I mean, I _guess_ all of that happened.” Koizumi frowned, thinking of what she should say. “But _I_ didn’t do any of that. I haven’t even done anything to any of you.” She pointed out happily. “The only reason I used my quirk to meet up with all of you was so I could stay safe. I’m not all that useful in a fight, and I _definitely_ wouldn’t have been able to stand up to three heroes all at once.”

Midoriya stayed silent, still looking hard at Koizumi. She had a point, technically. But that didn’t mean that he could just trust her. Especially after just casually revealing that she was a member of Ultimate Despair.

“I mean, ever since you came here I’ve been grabbed at and yelled at. Ah, not that I’m blaming you or anything. But now you want to stop being friends all of a sudden? Just because I told you I’m a member of Ultimate Despair? Don’t you think you’re being a little prejudiced?”

“I mean…” Midoriya looked down and grimaced, thinking about Koizumi’s words. They were true, somewhat. But that didn’t mean he would be able to trust her so easily now that the cat’s out of the bag. Beside him, Bakugou and Todoroki were looking back and forth between the two of them.

“And it’s not like I’ve changed or anything, right?” Koizumi continued. “I’m still the same person you met at the Culture Festival all that time ago. I was a part of Ultimate Despair then and still a part of Ultimate Despair now. So that meant that you were willing to become friends with the me that was Despair. So it’s not like anything’s really different now.”

“No, that’s…” Midoriya wanted desperately to tell her she’s wrong. But he wasn’t sure. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He looked up at Koizumi, a sad expression, one that bored deep into her soul. “Maybe we can still be friends.” He said, eliciting shocked reactions from the heroes around him.

“Deku…”

“Midoriya? What are you saying?!”

Koizumi, on the other hand, smiled sweetly at Midoriya. “Great! I’m glad you see it my way.”

“If.” Midoriya continued, putting emphasis on that word. “You surrender yourself to the Future Foundation.” Koizumi’s smiled faded away in an instant. Midoriya noticed, but despite this, he continued. “If you surrender, and you promise that you won’t try to spread despair, and promise to go to therapy, and try to free yourself from Despair, then I’ll trust you. Okay?” Midoriya gave Koizumi a soft smile, warm and comforting. It was soothing and gentle, and clearly conveyed the message that he meant her no harm. Bakugou and Todoroki turned to check what the photographer’s response might be.

Koizumi stared hard at Midoriya, her expression unreadable, her eyes blank. Then she grabbed her arms and sighed, looking disappointed. “Yeah, yeah. I guess that _would_ be your reaction. Honestly, for how spineless you seem normally, you can really stand up for yourself when the time comes.”

“So, then. What’s your answer?” Midoriya prodded while taking a step forward. The determined expression on his face complimenting Koizumi’s one of apathy.

“Hm. My answer?” Koizumi repeated. She tilted her head tapped her chin. “I think I’m going to go with… no. Sorry, Midoriya. I mean, it’s a tempting offer and all. But if I were to surrender here and now I’d just be betraying everyone.”

“I see.” Midoriya nodded resolutely. “Then, I’m sorry Koizumi. But I simply can’t trust someone who’s a member of Ultimate Despair.”

“Huh? No, that’s fine. I mean, you can choose who to trust and not trust.” Even though she said this, Koizumi still looked disappointed. Faint spirals appeared in her eyes, but they were weak and were gone in an instant.

“Why were you there then?” Midoriya asked in an attempt to change the topic. “Why did you come to our Culture Festival?”

“We had a very important mission to do.” Koizumi said. Then frowned and tapped her chin. “No, wait. Actually, I guess you could say that _I_ had a very important mission to do. The other girls were just there to have fun and help me blend in.”

“A mission? What was it?”

“Do I need to spell out everything to you?” Koizumi put her palm towards her head. “Don’t you remember what I was doing when you walked into me?”

“You were… taking pictures?” Midoriya recalled. “So, you were just gathering information on our school.”

“Yup. To be more precise, the students and teachers at your school.” Koizumi frowned again and looked displeased. “Well, it really wasn’t _just_ your school. I had to travel around going from hero school to hero school, taking as many pictures as I could. Gathering information on the quirks that the students had. It was really a lot of work, and I couldn’t even use my quirk for it.”

Koizumi breathed a heavy sigh as she recalled those tiring memories. “Oh, that must have been t-” Midoriya stopped himself before he could finish his sentence. Koizumi looked at him expectantly but Midoriya did not continue.

Instead, Koizumi shrugged and turned her attention towards Todoroki. “Of course, your school was important for a certain other reason.”

“You don’t mean…” Todoroki’s eyes widened as he realized what Koizumi was hinting towards. “So all of that that had happened with Endeavour and the other pro heroes. That was all Ultimate Despair’s doing after all…” He winced at the painful memory. Then glared hard at Koizumi. “Didn’t you just say that you didn’t do anything to us?”

“All I did was take pictures you know…” Koizumi said quietly. “But I guess you don’t really care about technicalities like that.” She looked directly at Todoroki with a neutral expression. “But in the end, shouldn’t you blame _him_ for what happened? After all, if he never did any of that, then his reputation wouldn’t have-“

“Shut up!” Todoroki cried out. Taking a single step forward before stopping himself. Koizumi watched this with a bemused expression.

“Oh? You seem quite angry all of a sudden when we started talking about Endeavour. Have you forgiven him already? You couldn’t have, right? There’s no way that forgiveness could happen so easily.” Koizumi mused. “If only a certain someone would learn that. Ah, no. It’s nothing. Don’t mind me.”

“Oh well. In any case, it doesn’t really matter. Right?” Koizumi asked. “In the end, so many heroes’ dark secrets came out that your family’s was only a drop in the bucket.” Saying this, Koizumi heaved a heavy sigh. “Ugh, and all that was me, more or less. I had to constantly run around in order to get good pictures to release to the public. It was so exhausting. But now I don’t have to worry about all of that. I’ve got a lot more time to myself now and I can dedicate it all to my projects.”

“Projects…?” Bakugou wondered.

“Oh!” Koizumi brightened and looked to the heroes. “That reminds me. You guys said you were here to find the missing people, right?”

“Uh, yeah…?”

“Well, it’s about time you guys stated taking action. I mean, it’s been months since I first started taking people from their homes at night. I appreciate all the time I was given to work, but I’m sure everyone would feel safer if the foundation acted more swiftly on these matters.” Koizumi lamented.

“Wh-what? Koizumi, you…” Midoriya gasped.

“It may not seem like it, but my quirk is actually great for kidnapping.” Koizumi smiled. “I can sneak in and sneak out as a team easily while subduing my target. And since I’m only working with myself, I always know what I’m thinking.”

The heroes tensed and each got into a defensive stance. Koizumi simply watched them with amusement, spirals playfully dancing within her eyes.

“Oh, you’re curious, right?” Koizumi asked excitedly. “You really want to know what I’m doing with the people I’ve stolen away. I can see it on your faces.”

“You mean… you’ll tell us?” Todoroki asked cautiously while narrowing his eyes.

“Tell you? Mmm, I’ve got a better idea.” Koizumi smiled playfully. “How about I show you?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well…” Koizumi tapped her chin. “I said you guys owed me for all the trouble you put me through, right?”

“But you just said-”

Koizumi held up a finger at an interrupting Midoriya. “Well, I’ve got a deal for you heroes. If you’re interested.”

“Forget it!” Bakugou denied. “We’re not making any deals with Ultimate Despair.”

“Aw, come on. Don’t be like that.” Koizumi teased. “I’ll give you a reward if you agree to cooperate.”

“What sort of reward?”

“Deku!”

“Wh-what? It wouldn’t hurt to ask.” Midoriya defended himself.

Koizumi smiled sharply. “An excellent question, Midoriya. This reward will be quite interesting for all of you, if I do say so myself. After all, it contains important information on Ultimate Despair. Very _useful_ information.”

“Information on Ultimate Despair? Why would you give us that?” Todoroki narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “What are you planning?”

“Me? I’m not planning anything.” Koizumi answered. “I said it was a reward, right? And I really won’t ask you to do anything too difficult. So, what do you all say?”

* * *

“What… what _is_ that?!” Midoriya cried out almost immediately upon entering the third floor. The other two heroes agreed. They reacted in complete and utter revulsion, much to Koizumi’s delight.

“Utterly disgusting…” Todoroki muttered.

“Feel like I’m gonna hurl…” Bakugou said.

“So? Tell me what you think. And be perfectly honest. I can take it.”

In the end, they decided to follow Koizumi. Although Bakugou had initially resisted, Todoroki and Midoriya had been interested in the so-called “reward” that Koizumi had promised. They decided that any information they were able to gather on Ultimate Despair will be useful in the long-run. And they could simply run away if they felt that their lives were in danger. Bakugou reluctantly agreed, partially because he did not feel that they should go back to the Future Foundation empty-handed.

Koizumi was overjoyed by their response. She excitedly unlocked the room and led them up to the third floor where she said she would show them all what she had been working on these past couple of months.

What they saw was horrific.

“Is that… even a human?” Todoroki wondered out loud. His face was twisted in horror and he was forcing himself not to shake.

“Oh, come on guys. It’s not that bad.” Koizumi said. “This is just a photograph. You can’t even smell anything with just a photo.” She waved her hand in front of her nose to emphasize the point. “Seriously. The cleanup afterwards is… not pretty.”

The walls were lined with picture after picture of human corpses… they think. Though, they couldn’t be too sure. Some of the bodies photographed had been brutally torn into multiple pieces. Limbs had been brutally dismembered, crushed, flayed, burnt in various places. The only part of their bodies that was undamaged were the various faces, which all cruelly depicted expressions of absolute horror and pain.

Looking down the hallway, there seemed to be countless pictures like that. They were in incredibly high definition and had been enlarged to fit the size of the other exhibits on the walls. If the images hadn’t been so grotesque, they might have admired the quality of the camera and printing machine used to make them.

Some of the bodies lacked eyes but had all of their limbs intact. Others seemed to have been ripped apart as one would a doll and let all of their stuffing lay about on the floor. Every picture they saw chilled them to the core.

From looking at all the pictures that lined the hallway of the third floor they were sure of one thing. Every single subject in these photographs died painfully.

“So, what are your thoughts?” Koizumi asked again, looking intently at the heroes. She gave them time to absorb the spectacle she had set up. “Anything that you like? Dislike? Since I’m relatively new at this I’d appreciate any feedback you can give.”

“It’s fucking disgusting.” Commented Bakugou, to which Koizumi frowned.

“Saying things like that isn’t very helpful.” Koizumi criticized. “What do you find disgusting about it? Is there anything you would improve?” She sighed. “Maybe I was wrong to ask you guys for help.”

Midoriya watched Koizumi as she stared at the photographs. He studied her expression with a determined look on his face. Despite everything, he didn’t want to believe that she was capable of doing something like this. He knew what the others at the Future Foundation said Ultimate Despair was capable of. The atrocities and the horrors that they commit. He didn’t want to believe that anyone could do anything like this without even a shred of remorse.

He looked at Koizumi and saw a deep frown. She looked sad, almost disappointed. Midoriya wanted to believe in her, in the woman he had once called his friend. Quietly, he asked if everything was alright.

“Ah, no. It’s nothing really.” Koizumi sighed again. “Though I do think these pictures are a little disappointing.”

A glimmer of hope flashed in Midoriya. “Then, why-”

“I mean, what I wanted to do was to capture the despair on people’s faces as they died. But it’s seriously harder than it seems.” Koizumi admitted, and Midoriya felt his hopes get squashed. “When a photograph is taken, that moment gets captured in time forever. That’s what I always believed growing up. That’s why I made it a rule never to delete a single photograph. I wanted to capture the despair that these people felt in their last moments. I wanted to be able to capture what should be the moments in their lives when they feel the most despair.”

“But.” Koizumi scowled. “I can never get it right. No matter how many different weapons I use, no matter how much pain I inflict on them, they just never show me enough despair. It’s seriously so infuriating. I’ve taken a whole bunch of photos like this from the people I’ve kidnapped. Once they die, I go out and pick someone else at random. But none of them are dying the way I want them to.”

“K-Koizumi…” Midoriya could hardly believe it. “Koizumi, why? Didn’t you say that you wanted to take pictures of people’s smiles? What changed?”

“Hm?” Koizumi turned towards Midoriya with a curious expression. “What are you bringing up all of a- oh! Right. I did tell you that, didn’t I?” Koizumi seemed to recall saying something like that Midoriya at the Culture Festival. “Well, like I said. People were criticizing me for having too plain of a theme. Even though it was a theme that I really loved, I just wouldn’t be able to get any recognition from doing it. I knew I couldn’t be stubborn, so I decided to change it into something a little more… provoking.”

“But…”

“I always looked up to my mother.” Koizumi explained. “She was a war photographer, so she wasn’t at home most of the time. But whenever she did come home, she would show me all of the photos that she had took while she was away. Well, not _all_ of them.” Koizumi corrected. “I was still just a child. So she made sure to only show me the happy ones. I loved seeing those photos. I looked up to her.” Koizumi smiled sadly as she recounted her past. “But I could never match up to her in the end, could I?”

“Koizumi…” Midoriya didn’t know what to say. If what she said was true, then Koizumi turned to despair because she felt that she wasn’t as good as the person she idolized. “I know what that’s like, I-I know how you feel-”

“You?” Koizumi furrowed her brows as she interrupted Midoriya. “No offense but, how could you know anything of what that’s like. I mean, you’ve had a strong quirk since childhood. You probably looked up to All-Might or something and then you got into one of the best hero schools in the Japan.”

“How did you-”

“How did I know you looked up to All-Might?” Koizumi grinned. “You seem like the type. Well, am I wrong?”

“Ah, no. I mean-”

“Of course I’m not.” Koizumi said. “You were probably all set to becoming one of the world’s greatest heroes before the Tragedy happened. Sorry about that, by the way, but there really was no other way. No other way to show the world the wonders of despair that is.

So what exactly did you mean when you said you know how I felt?”

“I mean…” Midoriya looked back at Bakugou, who avoided his gaze. An action that seemed to be saying he won’t tell him what to do, and that he’s free to decide on his own what he tells her. He then turned towards Todoroki who seemed somewhat confused by what was going on, before looking back to Koizumi.

Midoriya didn’t know what he should do. He truly _did_ understand what Koizumi went through, he had gone through something similar himself. He had been ridiculed for wanting to become a hero like All-Might even though he was quirkless. It was only out of sheer coincidence that he was able to obtain a power for himself and get himself into UA.

But he couldn’t just come out and say it. It was a secret kept between Bakugou, All-Might, and him. Letting Todoroki know, who just happened to be there with them, was one thing, but telling Ultimate Despair…

No. Midoriya shook his head. He wouldn’t be telling a member of Ultimate Despair, he would be telling Koizumi, his friend. She’d understand where he was coming from and then…

And then what? Would she suddenly see the error of her ways and renounce her ties with Ultimate Despair? That was unlikely. If anything, letting Ultimate Despair in on their secret could have horrific consequences. All-Might still retained the popularity he once had back when he was a hero. If they let a secret like that get out to the public, it might hinder the Future Foundation’s goals to stop despair.

So, what should he do? Midoriya looked up at Koizumi once more. He studied her vaguely dissatisfied expression and decided. It was a decision he would probably grow to regret, but it felt like it was the right thing to do. Swallowing his doubt and uncertainty, Midoriya took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

“No. I’m sorry. I really don’t understand how that would feel.” Midoriya lied.

Koizumi blinked. He could hear Bakugou’s breath catch for just a split second before returning to normal. Koizumi looked at Midoriya, then down, then away at some of the pictures hanging on the walls.

“Well.” She said, sounding somewhat disappointed. “It’s not like I was expecting otherwise.”

A moment of silence passed and Koizumi simply shrugged.

“Well, it’s been fun. But I suppose I should get going now.” Koizumi said suddenly. “But before I go, I promised you all something, didn’t I?” As she said this, Koizumi reached a hand into her pocket. Todoroki reacted first, as both Bakugou and Midoriya were otherwise preoccupied with their thoughts. He grabbed Koizumi’s wrist before she could pull out whatever she was holding onto.

“Well.” Koizumi huffed. “I certainly hope you don’t hurt yourselves on this… deadly envelope.” She said as she flicked her wrist out and revealed a white envelope. Todoroki grabbed it from her hand and let Koizumi go. She waved and started to walk away before Midoriya called out to her.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

Tilting her head back, Koizumi looked back to Midoriya. “I’ll give you a little time to look it over. I don’t want to reveal _too_ much after all.”

Koizumi said this and opened a large, steel door. Midoriya was about to run after her when…

“What… what is this?” Todoroki had opened the envelope and was staring at the pictures inside. The heroes gathered to him in order to get a good view of the contents.

“Wait, these people are…”

“Hm. I wonder…” Koizumi said to herself as she closed the door behind her. “Will you be able to figure it out?”

The heroes were too busy looking at the photographs to notice what Koizumi was up to. Looking at the pictures, it seemed that they were of a normal group of high school students. They had almost been expecting more of Koizumi’s earlier handiwork. But this was far more welcome, if a little confusing.

There were pictures of students enjoying themselves at a Culture Festival, a Sports Festival of their own. They were, in every sense of the word, normal. But there was something that the heroes could not ignore.

“That’s Owari!” Midoriya pointed at a tanned girl with wild, brown hair. She looked exactly like the girl he had fought against in the past. She seemed to be in the middle of a ramen eating competition. A group of teenagers that one could only assume to be her friends were at her side, cheering her on. Beside Owari, a fat, bespectacled teen was also swallowing chopsticks full of noodles. He had his own section cheering for him.

“And that’s Hanamura.” Todoroki noted. The short chef was standing near the middle. Working up a sweat while making more and more bowls of noodles.

“And Mioda.” Said Bakugou.

“I don’t get it. Why would all of them be photographed together like this?” Todoroki wondered out loud. “And who are the rest of these people with them? Could they be-“

“Ah!” Midoriya grabbed a photograph as his eyes widened. He pointed to a boy with white hair and a peaceful smile who seemed to be hiding in the background. “That’s… that’s…” Midoriya bit his lip. The name escaped him for a second before he remembered. “That’s Nagito Komaeda!”

“Who?” Bakugou asked. He was looking back and forth between the photos and the door Koizumi had disappeared behind, unsure of just what to make of this.

“Komaeda… you talked about him before, didn’t you? When we were in the hospital.” Todoroki flipped through a couple more photos. “He said weird things about wanting to meet the Hero Ki- Huh?!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Midoriya asked while peering in for a closer look. He followed Todoroki’s finger to a very familiar face. She wasn’t one of the students, but rather an adult. Standing beside known members of Ultimate Despair, as well as a whole bunch of teenagers they’ve never seen before was Chisa Yukizome, a branch head at the Future Foundation.

“Why is Yukizome here…” Midoriya muttered to himself. Meanwhile, Bakugou was looking at the door Koizumi went through with an odd expression.

“Hey…” Bakugou said, catching the other two heroes’ attention. “If that Koizumi was a clone, then why did she run away like that?”

“Huh?” Todoroki looked up. Now that he mentioned it, it was sort of weird. If Koizumi simply sent out her clones to engage with them, there shouldn’t be a pressing need for her to recall them. She could simply…

Wait.

* * *

Koizumi giggled to herself, hugging her stomach as she ran away, doing everything she could not to double over with laughter. Sounds of yelling and powerful quirks came from behind her, echoing around the walls of her escape route. They were unleashing everything they had on the sealed door that she went through. They were strong, she knew that. But she also knew that the museum’s security was even stronger.

She glanced back at the narrow corridor she ran down with swirling eyes. Oh, how exciting that was! She knew it would be a huge gamble to go over to them in person, but that was exactly why she did it. Koizumi imagined the despair she would feel if they had figured out she was real and not another one of her clones. Of course, just imagining it was not going to be even half as despair inducing as actually getting caught. But she couldn’t blame them for being unable to see through her trick.

She could just guess what might have happened if they went a little too far with her and she didn’t break into a mist as her other self had. Would they have been able to figure it out then? Or would she be able to talk herself out of it?

Midoriya looked so serious back there. Koizumi wondered to herself. Could it be that he was telling the truth? Nah, that was impossible. He even said so himself. Though with how nervous and suspicious he looked it really didn’t seem like he believed what he was saying. Ah well, maybe she can find a time to meet up with him later on. Then she could get to the bottom of this mystery.

She shook those thoughts out of her mind as she looked back once again. She had done it now. She gave the Future Foundation important information on Ultimate Despair. But that wasn’t quite everything. She also gave them information that could tear the Foundation down from the inside.

Koizumi thought back to their teacher, to Yukizome. She wondered how she was faring working for the Future Foundation, the very organization that sought to eradicate her and all of her classmates from the world.

Hey, Sensei. Are you fine with letting that happen? Will you be fine with letting your beloved students die like this?

* * *

BONUS SCENE

I had wanted to put this in two chapters ago, but I didn’t have enough time. But I felt that it was still important to include so here it is.

Just imagine that this scene occurred some time after the Mioda fight but before the current “fight” with Koizumi.

* * *

It was nighttime at the Future Foundation, and the students of class 1-A were lounging about in their Height’s Alliance dormitories, talking casually before bedtime. Sounds of animated chatter could be heard as they discussed various things. What sort of things happened on their patrols, in their classes and such. The topic had started to shift away from patrols and onto the various members of Ultimate Despair. More specifically, the Despair that a few of the students of class 1-A had the misfortune to meet out while they were working.

“Ah, I remember when we fought that guy a few months ago. When we were testing out the Megaphones.” Uraraka recalled. “And then we ran into another Ultimate Despair just a little bit later. That was really unlucky.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right! You guys found not one, but two members of Ultimate Despair!” Kirishima noted. “I still haven’t found any on my patrols. It’s a bit boring just blasting Monokuma robots, but I guess it’s safer too.”

“Yeah… though Uraraka and I are not the only ones who have fought against two Ultimate Despairs, right?” Midoriya wondered. “Tsuyu was with us when we fought Owari. And I heard she later found another Despair working as a chef.”

“Ah, you mean that guy. Hanamura!” Mineta exclaimed. He looked haunted, as if he was remembering a terrible memory. “That guy was way too terrifying. If Tsuyu hadn’t thought of a way to beat his quirk, we probably all would’ve been toast.”

“I heard something about that.” Midoriya commented. “What exactly happened there?”

“He had a Sniffing quirk. One that was able to track our positions at all times, and even predict our movements. I don’t know how it worked, but Tsuyu spilled a bunch of spices in the kitchen so that he’d inhale it all. That stopped him from Sniffing us enough so that we could start counterattacking. But then he ran away.”

“So it was a makeshift gas attack?” Yaoyorozu summarized. “Hmm, that gives me an idea.”

“Whoa, you aren’t going to make like, mustard gas or something right?” Kirishima asked. “Isn’t that like, a war crime?”

“Of course I won’t make something like that.” Yaoyorozu rolled her eyes. “Just simple tear gas should be enough.”

“Oh yeah, I guess that would be pretty potent.” Kirishima nodded. “Hey, isn’t there someone else who has fought against two members of Ultimate Despair now? Bakugou, you have too now, right?”

Their attentions shifted to Bakugou, who was sitting at the side without saying much of anything. He looked up as they all turned towards him. “Huh? What about it?” He asked.

“Aw, he’s probably just out of it because he’s in loooove.” Kaminari extended the last word in a mocking tone, grinning at him all the while.

“Huh, Kacchan?”

“Eh? What are you talking about?” Midoriya and Kirishima were noticeably panicked at this strange revelation. Bakugou glared at Kaminari, who ignored them and started to explain.

“You heard about how we faced off against Mioda, right? Well, get this…” Kaminari told everyone present what happened during that fight. “…none of our attacks were working on her, but Bakugou managed to stop her by professing his love in the middle of the entire fight.”

“What, really?”

“No way!”

“Wow, that certainly is a, um, _unique_ way of doing things.” Uraraka noted.

“What the fuck!” Bakugou yelled. “That’s not what happened! Don’t listen to this guy’s shitty explanation.”

The other students looked to Bakugou with curious eyes.

“Then, why don’t you tell everyone what _did_ happen, hotshot?” Kaminari suggested, tossing the proverbial ball to Bakugou’s court.

Bakugou huffed, then began to recount the events of that battle. It took only a few moments before he lost all momentum. “So we figured out that we couldn’t damage her with the quirks we had so I… uh…” Bakugou turned his head, avoiding the gazes of his fellow classmates. “I started talking with her. I uh, figured she was in despair because she was uh, scared, or something…”

Bakugou paused and took a quick glance of the room. They were all listening with rapt attention. Only Kaminari was smirking. He grimaced and continued. “So I told her she didn’t, um, have to be… scared or whatever. And that I’d… support her.”

“Oh my gooooood!” Ashido squealed as Bakugou finished. “That’s so romantic!”

“Right?” Kaminari grinned. “It’s better to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth too.”

“I also told her to surrender herself to the Future Foundation!” Bakugou added on, but everyone already stopped paying attention to him and was gossiping amongst themselves.

“Well, I really can’t argue with results but…”

“Right! But still, that’s so bold…”

“Not just while you’re working but with a villain as well…”

“I never knew he had it in him…”

“Hey, wait a sec. Bakugou.” Kirishima called out. “How did you know that would work?”

Though he had asked Bakugou, it was Kaminari who responded for him. “Oh yeah. Get this. Apparently, Mioda and Bakugou already went on a date beforehand. A few months ago, at our Culture Festival no less! Of course, this was before we knew she was a member of Ultimate Despair.”

“Oh my god! No way!!!” Ashido shouted. She pushed herself up to Bakugou. “I need details, man!”

Bakugou pushed her away and shouted at Kaminari. “Stop blowing things out of proportion! Damnit, it wasn’t a date.”

“Kacchan, you never told me about that. Um, not that you have to tell me everything that happens. I-I just thought…”

“I’m telling you it’s not fucking like that!”

“Really? Why don’t you tell us what happened then?” Kaminari challenged.

Bakugou scowled and looked away, prompting excited responses from onlookers. Then, he started talking about what happened. He went over how he met Mioda after their class finished their performance, and they briefly talked Mioda’s problems with her band, before she left just a little bit later. The room was briefly silent after he finished, then…

“Oh my god, Bakugou, that was so _totally_ a date.” Ashido decided for everyone.

“Was not!”

“Pretty sure you’re outnumbered here, dude.” Kaminari shrugged in the nonchalant way that he hated.

In a moment of desperation, Bakugou looked to Midoriya for any semblance of help, but he just embarrassedly averted his gaze, causing Bakugou to grumble to himself.

“Ooooh my god. Bakugou, of all people and a _villain_?” Ashido squealed excitedly. “This is crazy! This is insane! Like, can you even imagine?”

“No, I certainly didn’t expect something like this.” Yaoyorozu admitted.

“Forbidden love between hero and villain. In the middle of a world-ending apocalypse no less.” Ashido feigned a dramatic swoon, then grabbed Bakugou’s shoulders. “But! I will support your love no matter the moral or ethical quandaries! For love has no bounds!”

“Get off me!” Bakugou shook her off and turned around to walk away. “You’re all damn annoying!”

Everyone laughed as Bakugou left. A couple moments passed before Kirishima spoke up.

“Ah, don’t you feel you were too hard on him?”

“Eh, it’s fine.” Kaminari assured him. “It’s funny. And besides, no way someone like _Bakugou_ would ever fall for a villain. _Especially_ not someone from Ultimate Despair.”

“Right!” Ashido agreed. “The tale of forbidden love is cool and all, but it could never happen in real life. And definitely not with someone like Bakugou.”

“Though I was surprised with some of the stuff Bakugou said.” Yaoyorozu commented. “He sounded surprisingly caring to Mioda.”

“Hmph. It’s completely unexpected that someone like him would be good with girls.” Mineta sniffed.

“But that’s Bakugou, right? Just when you think you know him he surprises you.” Uraraka giggled. “What do you think, Deku?”

“Ah, yeah. I was pretty surprised as well.” Midoriya agreed. As the other students had already moved onto a different topic, Midoriya looked at the way Bakugou had left. Quietly, he muttered to himself. “There’s no way that’s possible. Right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone see that coming?
> 
> Not much to say this chapter. Except that the holidays have left me with much less time to write than I thought I’d have. To think, I actually wanted to release a chapter on Christmas as a present. Boy, that sure was silly of me. Well, we can say it’s a New Year’s present instead.
> 
> Before, I was asked if I was going to ship Mioda and Bakugou together. At the time I wasn’t quite sure but after thinking on it a bunch I finally decided what direction I wanted to take their story. So will I ship them? Well, I certainly do in my heart. But in the confines of the story, no. But you can imagine there’s a bit of an asterisk on that no, as there will still be some moments between the two, even if nothing fully develops.
> 
> Koizumi’s quirk! Hers was not a reference to any specific media like many other quirks I’ve given the Remnants. I just wanted a way for her to get close to the heroes that came after her without putting either side in danger.
> 
> This technically marks the end of the first mini “arc”. Though, there are still a whole bunch of class 77 to get through.
> 
> Next chapter: Chisa Yukizome


	15. Chapter 15

A knock on the door. There was no response.

The man knocked again. Still, no one responded.

Sighing, the man called out. “It’s Shouta Aizawa.” He waited a moment. Nothing.

Feeling frustrated, Aizawa began to walk away when a soft voice called out from inside.

“Wait.” Yukizome’s sad voice called out from inside the room. “Come in.”

Aizawa opened the door and peeked in. Yukizome wasn’t sitting at her desk. Turning his head just a fraction, he saw her sitting on the couch.

Aizawa stepped in and closed the door behind him. He grabbed a chair and faced it towards Yukizome before sitting down on it. There was room on the couch for another person, but Aizawa didn’t think that was the right call under the current circumstances. Well, to be fair, he didn’t think it would be the right call under _any_ circumstance.

The two of them were silent, staring at one another, seemingly waiting for the other to begin speaking first. Finally, it was Yukizome who broke the silence.

“So, why did you come here?”

“Mm? Oh, uh.” Aizawa scratched his head. “I guess… I thought it’d be a good idea to come here and uh… see how you were doing.” Aizawa paused. “So, how are you doing?”

Yukizome laughed at this. She smiled sadly. “Not too badly, all things considered. We’ve uh… we’ve known about it for a while. Or at least, we thought we knew. I guess it was nice to have it confirmed to us.”

Aizawa said nothing and merely nodded sadly. He himself could hardly believe what had happened in such a short period of time. Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki came back from their investigation earlier than he had been expecting. They hadn’t been able to rescue the kidnapped persons. But they had something else, something bigger. They were holding a couple of photographs that a member of Ultimate Despair gave them. What had been on there had been a shock to them all.

Owari, Hanamura, and Mioda. Just three members of Ultimate Despair that members of the Future Foundation had encountered in the past few months were pictured in the photos, along with several other teenagers that they had never seen before. All of them were laughing, smiling, or otherwise having the time of their lives.

Another disturbing detail was the presence of a certain familiar face. Namely, Chisa Yukizome. She was in a few of the pictures, smiling while accompanied by the other students. They sought answers and it was Munakata who later informed them. Chisa Yukizome was the homeroom teacher for Hope’s Peak Academy’s 77th class, and they have reason to suspect that all or nearly all of them have joined the ranks of Ultimate Despair.

This information sowed chaos in the Future Foundation’s ranks. Nearly everyone was abuzz with the news. Yukizome had been Ultimate Despair’s teacher before they became Ultimate Despair. Underneath all the whispers and the glances, there seemed to be a hint of suspicion towards her, something that couldn’t simply go unnoticed.

That suspicion slowly built towards Yukizome. Although no one said it outright, they were all accusing her of various shady things. Such as being a mole sent by Ultimate Despair, secretly leaking information to the enemy. The situation became so drastic that Tengan had temporarily suspended her from duty, citing that an internal investigation would be taking place in order to determine Yukizome’s guilt, or lack thereof.

That had stemmed the many complaints made by various foundation personnel. But in truth, it did very little to actually ease their suspicions. In their hearts, they still couldn’t trust her completely, simply due to her supposed connection to Ultimate Despair.

In the meantime, Munakata made sure that everyone knew the faces of class 77-B of Hope’s Peak Academy, so those previous students of Hope’s Peak Academy wouldn’t be able to trick foundation operatives again if they’re ever encountered on the field.

“We planned on announcing it eventually. We had to, in order to make sure the information is out there.” Yukizome continued after a while. “We discussed it a while ago. After Owari and Hanamura and then Mioda, we were sure that it wasn’t just a coincidence. Even if I really didn’t want to accept it.”

“Mmm.” Aizawa made a noise of affirmation and nodded slightly, showing that he was listening.

“Up until then I just thought they were missing, you know? I worried for them. They weren’t at Hope’s Peak the day of the Tragedy, so I hoped that Ultimate Despair didn’t get to them first. Though, I guess you can say that was what happened.”

“…Sorry.” Aizawa said after a little while.

“Thanks.” Yukizome said. “You know, I’ve completely shut out Munakata and Sakakura. They tried to talk to me, but I wanted to be alone.”

“What about me?”

“You’re different. I think. At first, I was surprised when you said your name. I thought it had been Munakata again. Then I had to try to remember where I heard that name before.” Yukizome smiled. “And then I remembered. You’re one of UA’s homeroom teachers.”

“I am.”

“You were Kamukura’s teacher.”

“I was.”

Silence filled the room. Yukizome and Aizawa both looked away. Each not knowing how to continue. This time, it was Aizawa who cleared his throat and spoke first.

“I remember when Munakata first told us about Kamukura.” Aizawa recalled. “When Munakata had accused Kamukura of being a member of Ultimate Despair in front of everyone. I thought that there was no way anyone could possibly relate to what I was going through. I guess I was wrong.”

“You don’t have to feel bad. Back then, we weren’t sure about them yet. I was still holding out hope, you know?”

“Yeah. I understand. I remember when Kamukura first disappeared off of school grounds.” Aizawa had a pained expression on his face. “We were so unsure of what might have happened. I mean, it was Izuru Kamukura for crying out loud. He was one of our top students. We didn’t think it was possible for a villain to have taken him. We thought maybe he left on his own but… we checked his room. After a few days we checked his room and he left all his stuff here. He clearly wasn’t planning on leaving for long.”

“I’m so sorry…” Yukizome said, a sad look on her face. “All of this happened before the Tragedy too, didn’t it?”

“Mmm. The day Endeavour defeated that super strong Nomu.” Aizawa recalled. “Then the day after, his secret came out.”

“That poor boy… that poor family… I never knew that someone could be capable of doing something like that. All for the sake of some _poll_.” Yukizome lamented. “How did he handle it afterwards?”

“Shouto? We gave him a few days off school. He went back to his siblings for a while.” Aizawa frowned and shook his head. “When he came back he was… I don’t know. He was always quiet, but you could tell there was a difference.”

“And all of that was Ultimate Despair’s plan as well.” Yukizome sighed. “They launched attack after attack against pro heroes until it became normal to resent them.” She looked up. “Hey, you’re a pro hero too, right? As well as a teacher.”

“Yeah. I guess. I mean, I have a license for both.” Aizawa answered honestly. “Ultimate Despair never said anything about me though. One of the benefits of being an underground hero I suppose.”

“Ah, that wasn’t what I wanted to ask.” Yukizome said. “How did that work before the whole Tragedy thing? How did you find time to do both?”

Aizawa sighed. He looked away for a second before responding. “I didn’t… not really. Before I was a teacher I was only working as a pro hero. But after I got a job at UA, all my time went towards teaching. I would rarely ever have the time or the energy to go out and fight or patrol. Though, I did find the time now and again. There was that raid on the Eight Precepts…”

“I think I read that on the news. Pretty impressive.” Yukizome smiled and so did Aizawa.

“Thanks.”

“Do you ever worry about Kamukura? What would happen if he really were working with Ultimate Despair as Munakata said.” Yukizome asked this with a serious expression on her face. “What would you do if you had to fight him?”

“If it were proven beyond a shadow of a doubt?” Aizawa mused. “And he had no intentions of surrendering? Then yeah, I’d fight him.”

“How would you do that?” Yukizome smiled wryly. “He doesn’t have a quirk.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “I thought you meant in the metaphorical sense. And besides, I’m more than just my quirk.” He said as he tugged at the white binding thread wrapped around his neck. “Plus, I don’t expect to be alone in this confrontation.”

“And if you were alone?”

“I wouldn’t particularly like my chances.” Aizawa admitted. “Before, I probably would have been hard-pressed to admit that I would lose to a student. I have my pride, after all. But now that I know the truth behind Kamukura, I can’t imagine he’d be easy to take down.”

“And… what if you couldn’t… take him down. What if there was no choice but to… kill him?” Yukizome stared worriedly at Aizawa who had dropped his mouth in surprise. Slowly, Aizawa closed his mouth, but made no attempt to answer Yukizome’s question.

“I…”

“No, I’m sorry. That was an inappropriate thing to ask.” Yukizome looked away in shame. She tightened her fists grabbing the hem of her skirt.

Aizawa sighed. “I would probably do it.” Yukizome looked up while Aizawa turned away. “It’s my duty as a hero after all. I have to.”

“I see.” Was all Yukizome could say.

“But.” Aizawa continued. “I’d prefer not to. Obviously, I mean, I’d prefer not to have to… do _that_ to anyone. Least of all Kamukura. I’d like to bring him in alive, if possible. Maybe then we can finally understand what would cause someone like him to do something like this.” Aizawa frowned. “If he even did do anything to help Ultimate Despair to begin with.”

Yukizome nodded at the logical answer Aizawa gave. “You know about Kamukura’s situation already, right? All that talent and suppressed emotions means he’s constantly bored-“

“There’s no way someone would end the world just because they were bored.” Aizawa flat out denied. “Especially not someone like Kamukura.” He shifted his posture and looked Yukizome in the eyes. “You’ll remember that I spent almost an entire year teaching him. Aiding Ultimate Despair isn’t like him.”

Yukizome looked down. “That’s what I thought too.” Aizawa grimaced and fell silent. “None of what Ultimate Despair does make any sense. Starving themselves, hurting their own friends, their families. I’ve heard a few people speculate that they love despair so much they even want to inflict it upon themselves. How can someone even begin to understand someone like that, let alone help them?”

Aizawa nodded slightly, lowering his head in thought. After a while, he looked up at Yukizome. “You want to help them?”

“That’s right.” Yukizome nodded. “I read the reports written by your students. The way they described how they acted… Barring a few changes here or there, it sounded like they were the exact same person they were before it all began. I believe that there’s still hope for them. That they can go back to the way they were.”

“Hmm.” Aizawa thought about this. “But how can you be sure of that? How do you know that they were… normal to begin with?”

“I…” Yukizome looked away. “I just know, alright?”

Aizawa didn’t say a word, he chose not to press her further. Instead, he brought up a different topic. “You know, I’ve heard that Gekkogahara’s division was working with the tech department to make some sort of… virtual reality program. Though the details are getting kept under wraps. Outsiders like us won’t get to know much until it’s revealed.”

“I’ve heard about that.” Yukizome said. “Tengan’s orders, it seems. Munakata disagreed with it, saying that we didn’t need to try to rehabilitate Ultimate Despair.”

“Hmm.” Aizawa noticed Yukizome’s displeasure as she was talking. It was very clear why this reaction would occur. Aizawa decided to poke the proverbial hornet’s nest. “Munakata… you haven’t spoken with him much after… after all of this have you? Are you afraid of what he might say?”

“That’s right.” Yukizome sighed. “You know what Munakata’s like. The eradication of despair without compromise. It’s troubling for me. Neither of us brought it up after… after the discussion where we agreed that the 77th class are all Ultimate Despair. It’s a conversation that I’ve been putting off. And frankly, I’m not sure if I’ll like the decision he comes to.”

“Mmm. I’ve spoken with the man a couple of times myself. He certainly doesn’t seem like the compromising type.” Aizawa closed his eyes, thinking hard about this dilemma. “If… if he doesn’t see things the way you do. What will you do?”

Yukizome blinked. She stared at Aizawa. “You’re asking me if I’d choose between my students or Munakata?”

“Essentially… yes, I suppose you could say it like that.”

“Well, obviously I’d choose Munakata.” Yukizome’s answer was filled with emotion. “There’s no way… there’s definitely no way that I’d betray Munakata, or the entire Future Foundation. I… I can’t. There’s simply no way.”

So does that mean you’d do it if there was a way?

Aizawa let the question die in his throat. He didn’t want to antagonize Yukizome, that wasn’t the reason he came here today. He supported her, he sympathized with her in a way that other people in the foundation couldn’t. That was why she had let him in instead of her closest friends after all.

So even though the way she worded her answer seemed strange, Aizawa wouldn’t question it. In fact, it was probably his fault anyway. Who would just ask someone if they plan on betraying the organization they worked for? What sort of person would say yes to that sort of question if prompted? He was clearly being silly.

“Hm.” Aizawa stood up and replaced his chair. “I’m gonna head out now. But if you want to talk about something you can come to me.”

“Thanks Aizawa.” Yukizome smiled at him as he left her office. She watched the door close behind him. Relaxing on her couch, Yukizome leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

“Betray Munakata huh?” Yukizome muttered to herself in a low voice. “There’s no way that I could.”

* * *

“I guess what I’m trying to ask is: Did I do the right thing when we were confronting Koizumi?” Midoriya summarized his concerns. He had been talking for a long time, explaining in detail what had been on his mind since coming home from the encounter with Mahiru Koizumi. Today was the weekend, so the students didn’t have school. Midoriya looked up from his hands to the person he had called over to talk. “What do you think, Kacchan?”

“’Course you did.” He said simply while pointing at Midoriya. “I mean, obviously. Right? There was no way you’re telling Ultimate Despair about One for All. So what even is the goddamn problem?”

“I know that.” Midoriya replied flatly. “But Koizumi she… she sounded so sad when she was telling me about her past. And I could relate to her, you know I can. She’d know that she wasn’t alone in this, and…”

“And then you’d both shake hands or hug it out or something and she’d let you cuff her and happily rot in a jail cell.” Bakugou cut in, annoyed. “C’mon. That’s idealistic, even for you.”

“No, I get it. There’s no way she’d agree to something like that so easily.” Midoriya relented. “I’m just saying what if… what if there’s still a chance we can save her.”

“Haah? What the hell are you even talking about?” Bakugou stared in disbelief. “There is no ‘saving’ Koizumi. How would you even save someone like that? She literally tortured people to death for the sake of her photographs. For the sake of ‘photographing people in moments of despair’ whatever the fuck that means. Don’t get the wrong idea just because she acted a little chummy with you at the Culture Festival or whatever.”

“I guess you’re right.” Midoriya hung his head. Suddenly, he looked up, as if he just thought of something. “What about… hey, what about Mioda?”

“…What about her?” It took Bakugou a second to respond.

“You were able to talk things out with her, right?” Midoriya recalled their conversation with the rest of the class a few weeks ago.

“…That was different.” Bakugou looked down. “She was threatening the lives of everyone in the town. “And we had no way of fighting her quirk.”

“Ah, I suppose that’s true.”

A brief moment of silence passed. Suddenly, Bakugou spoke up. “Are you thinking about Kamukura?”

“Huh- wha?” Midoriya was surprised at the sudden mention of their missing friend’s name.

“You talk about saving people-“

“Kamukura’s not evil!” Midoriya stood up suddenly and shouted. “And he definitely isn’t a member of Ultimate Despair either!”

The two heroes stared at one another. A tense silence passed and Bakugou spoke again. “I’m just saying what if-“

“There’s no ‘what if’.” Midoriya cut in again, this time much calmer than before. But his voice still carried an edge. He sat back down and took a breath. “Why don’t you trust him? He was your friend too wasn’t he?”

“Well…”

“Kacchan!”

“Alright, alright.” Bakugou held up his hands. “He was a friend. I just… you saw how he was, right? Always actin like he was bored of everything.”

“You know why that is.” Midoriya reminded him. “You knew about the Kamukura Project. More than even what Munakata told us. Kamukura told us personally himself.”

“And I was thinking.” Bakugou continued, ignoring Midoriya’s comments. “How did we know he even wanted to be a hero in the first place? I mean, he was told to do so by the Steering Committee chumps. Then they cut him loose. He’s free to make his own decisions, maybe he decided to just leave.”

“He- he definitely wanted to be a hero!” Midoriya argued. “He saved my life! Twice!”

“Huh? He did?”

“One time at the shopping mall. And one time at the summer camp.” Midoriya explained. He described how Kamukura had intervened when Shigaraki was threatening his life. And how he had arrived at Kota’s hideout to defeat Muscular after he had failed. “How can you say that someone like that didn’t want to be a hero?”

“Huh? Well…”

“And he helped us rescue Eri and defeat the Precepts. When we fought against Chisaki, he… he was…” Midoriya blinked. “He was so excited.”

“Huh? He was?” Bakugou seemed almost bewildered by the statement. “You sure you weren’t seeing things?”

“No… I definitely saw it.” Midoriya clutched at his head, not believing his own memories. “He smiled at me. Encouraged me. Right before we took down Chisaki after he turned into some big rock monster. Right before… Eri lost control of her quirk.”

“…” Bakugou was silent, listening to Midoriya with an intense expression on his face.

“When we talked again at the hospital, he seemed… normal again. But when we were fighting he was acting like… like…” Midoriya looked up at Bakugou, his eyes wide as he seemed to have realized something important. “He was acting like Hinata.”

“Hinata?” Bakugou repeated. It was a name he had become quite familiar with over the past several weeks. “You mean like _Hajime_ Hinata? The guy in the videos that Munakata showed us? The person Kamukura was before he became… Kamukura?”

“I think. I mean, I’ve never met Hinata before. But when I saw him on that screen, I just thought that I had seen him somewhere before. That I had _met_ him.”

“Uh. Okay? And how would that work? How does that even happen?” Bakugou questioned. “Kamukura just magically turning back into Hinata and… then what? He certainly didn’t stay as Hinata for long, did he?”

“I… I don’t know.” Midoriya admitted. “But when we find him we can ask him about it. About everything. He’ll be able to explain everything we need to know. I’m sure of it.”

Bakugou stared at his friend. Was he aware of how weird he was being? Midoriya was like this whenever Kamukura came up in the conversation.

“Right, yeah. Of course.” Bakugou sighed and shook his head dismissively.

They’ve already had this discussion before. With no conclusive leads to where Kamukura disappeared to and no evidence to prove or disprove his involvement with Ultimate Despair, there was nothing new that could be said regarding the alignment of Izuru Kamukura. Their friend had vanished, and they had no idea why. Their only thread of hope was some way finding Kamukura and asking him what was up with everything that had been happening.

_If_ he was able to answer their questions in the first place.

Bakugou stood up. “Whatever. I’m going to the gym.” He opened the door to Midoriya’s room and exited, leaving Midoriya there in silence.

“Kamukura’s not evil.” Midoriya muttered in the empty room. He clenched his fists tight. Even though there was no one there to hear him, he said it anyway. “He’s not.”

* * *

“Midoriya.” Munakata called out to the boy as he entered Munakata’s spacious office. Apparently, Munakata had been looking for him. Confused at what one of the most powerful members of the Future Foundation would want with someone like him, Midoriya went to him immediately. “Please, take a seat.” He gestured to the chair situated in front of his desk. Midoriya obliged.

Midoriya had gotten used to being stared at from his time at Sir Nighteye’s hero offices, but the gaze Munakata had been giving him felt like something else entirely. Midoriya felt his spine shiver under the man’s watchful eye. If he didn’t already know what Munakata’s quirk was, he might have been convinced that he was under some sort of attack.

This whole situation felt extraordinarily similar to being called into the principal’s office when he got in trouble. It was not an event that he had to experience many times in his life. Midoriya’s childhood, for the most part, consisted in him staying out of trouble. Though, occasionally he’d stick his nose in where it didn’t belong. Was this one of those times?

“You wanted to see me?” Midoriya asked, shaking off the lingering uncomfortable feeling he had felt while coming in.

“Yes. There was a package addressed to you.” Munakata said. “We received it yesterday.”

Midoriya tilted his head. “A package? Was it from my mom? But she didn’t tell me she was sending me something…”

“It was not from your mother, Midoriya.” Munakata bent down and opened a drawer. He reached his hand in and dug out a white sheet of paper, folded in half. Squinting, Midoriya could read his own name on the side.

“Did you… did you open my mail?” Midoriya asked in quiet disbelief.

“All mail here is checked for release of confidential information or smuggle of dangerous items.” Munakata said simply. He was still holding the note addressed to Midoriya in one hand, making no effort to give it to him. “Now, is it true that you’ve made a deal with Ultimate Despair?”

“Huh?” Midoriya blinked. His eyes darted from the letter to Munakata himself. “Um, I suppose you can say that? We gave Aizawa our report on what happened when we encoun-“

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Munakata’s brow furrowed and Midoriya’s words died on his lips. He felt his throat dry up in the presence of Munakata’s stare. “Perhaps _this_ will jog your memory.” Munakata placed the note down on his desk right in front of Midoriya.

Midoriya scrunched up his face in confusion. What did he mean by that? The terse look on Munakata’s face gave him no hints.

Gingerly, Midoriya took the piece of paper. He unfolded the note and began to read. His eyes widened almost immediately, which caused Munakata to narrow his own. It wasn’t a long note, but its contents were shocking.

“Dear Midoriya,

Even if you don’t want to be my friend anymore, a promise is a promise, right?

Until we meet again,

Mahiru Koizumi.”

“What? Koizumi…?” Midoriya asked breathlessly. He read over the message for a second and a third time, even flipping it over and upside down checking to see if he perhaps missed something, before looking up at Munakata in confusion. “Wh-what is this? Why would she…? What was in the package?” Midoriya was worried. Did she send them something dangerous?

“You don’t know?” Munakata tilted his head, his look of suspicion not disappearing in the slightest.

“No, I…” A sudden flash of realization appeared on Midoriya’s face. He had been talking about it with Koizumi before she outed herself as Ultimate Despair. “…The photographs? Was it the photos of our school’s Culture Festival?”

“Indeed they were.” Munakata answered coldly.

Immediately, a wave of confusion washed over Midoriya. Why did she keep her promise? They had chatted about it while they were touring the museum. But that was before Koizumi revealed herself. Reading over the note again, Midoriya felt a twinge of guilt. Koizumi really did want to be his friend. But he… he couldn’t be friends with a member of Ultimate Despair, nothing could change that.

“Now, answer my question, Midoriya.” Munakata’s sharp voice cut into Midoriya’s inner turmoil. “As was stated in the note, what deal did you make with Ultimate Despair? Depending on your answer, it may be deemed as an act of treason.”

Treason?! A cold sweat ran down Midoriya’s back as he was harshly brought back to reality. Was Munakata misunderstanding something? Was it because of what Koizumi wrote in that letter? A deal is a deal… but that was only on Koizumi’s end. She had promised to send them the pictures she took of the school’s Culture Festival if she still had them. That was what he asked of her. Midoriya explained as such to Munakata, who only furrowed his brow further.

“I read the reports that you three submitted after the encounter. Why had none of you mentioned this in any of them?”

“O-oh, well we probably thought it wasn’t important enough to write about.” Midoriya said in a quiet voice. “I mean, I only just now remembered that I even talked with Koizumi about that. It was when she was still pretending to not be a member of Ultimate Despair. We were just talking casually at that point. I… I’d forgotten all about that conversation.”

“Hmm…” Munakata said nothing as he stared at Midoriya. Midoriya stared back, not wanting to be intimidated when he had done nothing wrong. He was failing miserably. Seconds passed where neither party said anything. It wasn’t until Munakata turned away that Midoriya began to breathe again.

Munakata turned to look at a painting on his wall. It was a painting of Izuru Kamukura, not the one that had been enrolled in UA but the original founder of Hope’s Peak Academy. Midoriya noticed that he was still holding the note, his grip crumpling the paper. He quickly loosened his hold and used his fingers to smooth out the creases as Munakata chose to look at something else.

Now, Munakata was focusing on the framed photograph that sat on his desk. Since it was tilted towards him, Midoriya never had the chance to see what was on it. Was it someone close to Munakata? Family perhaps, or a close friend. Midoriya saw Munakata’s expression visibly soften as he picked the picture frame up.

Midoriya felt his muscles tense up as he waited. He could feel his neck and torso getting sore from sitting so still. He wanted to stretch a bit but was afraid of making Munakata angry.

Finally, Munakata set the picture frame down and once again turned to Midoriya. This time, he had a kinder look on his face.

“I apologize if I’ve caused you any distress, Midoriya.” Munakata suddenly said. “The recent events have had me- have had us _all_ on edge. And it never hurts to be too cautious.”

Midoriya’s eyes widened at Munakata’s sudden change of attitude. “You’re talking about… Yukizome, right?” At the mention of her name, Munakata turned briefly to glare at him. But then, as quick as it had appeared, the glare vanished and Munakata averted his eyes. “I… I know what that’s like. I mean… I know how it feels to have your friend be accused of something that’s not true. I know how it feels to have no one believe you. And it feels like there’s nothing you can do to stop-“

“Well that’s where you’re wrong, Midoriya.” Munakata interrupted with little interest. “I don’t know about your circumstances per se, but there is plenty I could do in this situation. For one, I could have vetoed the decision to have Yukizome investigated. If I pushed a little, both Tengan and All-Might would have voted in my favour. But I didn’t do that. Because that would only sow dissent in the other members of the Future Foundation. Which is why I allowed the investigation to go forward. After finding that Yukizome has done nothing suspicious people will forget all about it and we can focus on eradicating Ultimate Despair.”

“I… I see.” Midoriya could do nothing but nod. The idea of navigating the politics of a large organization was foreign to him. Though, he supposed he would have had to learn how to do so in the future, if the Tragedy hadn’t occurred. Heroing was a cutthroat business after all.

“No… what I’m worried about… none of my business…” Munakata was muttering. His eyes were cloudy, his brow furrowed as he seemed to be thinking of something that frustrated him. “She blames herself… but it might have been my fault…”

“Um, Munakata?” Midoriya raised his voice and asked, catching Munakata’s attention.

“Oh. I do apologize, Midoriya.” Munakata reached down into his drawer again. This time, he pulled out a large brown package and held it up to Midoriya. “Take this. I imagine your school will be happy to have them.”

“Ah, thanks.” Midoriya said as he grabbed the package that Munakata was holding. He tugged, but Munakata didn’t seem to be letting go. “Um…”

“Midoriya.” Munakata called out and let go of the package. While looking at Munakata, Midoriya set both the package and the note down on his legs.

“Um, yes?”

“Do you… Hmm, you’ve met some members of Ultimate Despair already, yes? From what you’ve seen, do you believe that they can be rehabilitated?”

“A-ah, um. I…” Midoriya was shocked. Munakata’s question came straight out of left field. He had no idea how to answer this. His mind went straight to his meetings with Drifter, Owari, and Koizumi. “I don’t… know?”

“No, I mean. Um, yes. I suppose that would be your answer.” Munakata mumbled. “But what do you hope for? Psychologically speaking, the case of this ‘Ultimate Despair’ is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Just the way it improves one’s physical condition alone makes it interesting to researchers. Along with the attraction towards feelings of despair. It… some people wish to try and ‘cure’ them of their affliction. I was just wondering what you thought of it all.”

“Ah, oh. Um… I suppose… I hope that it can be cured. That people who’ve fallen to despair can be saved.” Midoriya answered honestly, drumming his fingers in a cascading pattern on the package in his lap.

“Hmm. Yes, I suppose that’s a natural reaction.” Munakata started mumbling once more upon hearing Midoriya’s answer. He looked at Midoriya with a serious expression on his face. “But do you think that’s the best choice under the circumstances?”

“Um, w-what do you mean sir?”

“Ultimate Despair… From what I’ve seen, none of their hands are clean. They’ve all committed horrible deeds in the name of despair without feeling the slightest shred of guilt.” Munakata said. “Now, let’s suppose that you can change them back into how they were before falling into despair. What do you think will happen to the atrocities they’ve committed? All the blood that’s stained their hands? All that regret.”

Munakata stared evenly at Midoriya, who slowly looked down at his own two hands. He clenched and unclenched them, as if imagining that they were covered in blood. He looked back up at Munakata, grimacing.

“I… I don’t know.” Was all Midoriya could say in the face of such a question. “They’d feel bad… I think. _Terrible_.”

“The guilt would be immeasurable, I’m sure.” Munakata said simply. “If those crimes were committed with one’s own hands, while in one’s own body. And then to suddenly recover their mind, return their senses to normal… Then, would you not think that it would be kinder and more merciful to simply kill them? Such an ending would allow their victims some solace as well.”

Midoriya’s eyes widened at the suggestion. “That… I’m not sure, I… I can’t say.”

“No, of course not.” Munakata replied calmly. “I was not expecting you to make a decision on the spot over such a complicated matter. However, do give it some thought, alright? The Future Foundation will have to decide sooner or later. For the time being… do enjoy the rest of your day, Midoriya. You are dismissed.”

Midoriya awkwardly left.

* * *

The next several days passed almost without incident. Since Yukizome was innocent to begin with, the investigation led nowhere. She was allowed back to work and things at the foundation continued as normal.

At least, that’s what it seemed on the surface. However, people’s suspicions weren’t so easy allayed, especially in these more chaotic times. There were some who distrusted Yukizome. They believed that Munakata had a hand in covering up her misdeeds. It was possible, given that he was one of the vice-leaders of the foundation.

Some people were suspicious about the fact that Yukizome herself was not the one who revealed her past with members of Ultimate Despair. That it had been revealed by one of the despairs that they were fighting against. Some people were simply distrusting and believed that any contact made with Ultimate Despair that doesn’t involve fighting them was an act of disloyalty. Even if they hadn’t become Ultimate Despair at the time.

They were left to their suspicions as the foundation kept working. A couple of days went by before the next shocking development occurred.

* * *

“Whoa, you’re kidding!” A few members of the class shouted as they heard the news.

“No, I’m not.” Aizawa declared. “The decision was put to a vote by all the division heads. We all feel that this change will be beneficial to our plans of ridding the world of despair.”

The students of 1-A were gathered in a classroom as the person who was once their homeroom teacher, now their coordinator on field assignments, Aizawa, told them about the new decision that the Future Foundation had made.

Specifically, it was the decision to increase the opportunities that student heroes were given, especially when encountering Ultimate Despair. Previously, student heroes would have to retreat when they come up against members of Ultimate Despair. It was only in some rare cases would they be allowed to fight instead. Now, that has changed to allowing the students to fight and potentially take down Ultimate Despair should they be encountered in the wild.

In addition to that, it seemed that Aizawa had more news to tell the class.

“The Future Foundation has decided to move into the next steps of fighting against Ultimate Despair. Now that things have relatively calmed down in most places.” Aizawa continued. “Instead of merely protecting the territory that Ultimate Despair has yet to conquer, we will start to take the offensive. We’ll be attacking places that Ultimate Despair occupy in an effort to take control back from them.”

As Aizawa said this, he displayed a map on the large monitor in the front of the room. “The first place we’re going to is a town that seems to be where biological experiments are taking place. The foundation believes that Ultimate Despair are developing biochemical weapons. Drugs, mostly. As well as ways to further augment humans beyond what people are already capable of.”

“Like trigger?” Kirishima asked.

“Not just trigger.” Aizawa shook his head. “Though we believe that’s one possibility. Do you all remember what happened to Hanamura’s mother? Her memory had been constantly altered with a substance that was made to resemble tea leaves by her own son. We believe that she was being used as a test subject. The leaves were made to closely resemble tea leaves. No doubt Ultimate Despair planned on perfecting their formula and selling it to unsuspecting store owners. Doing so would wipe out the memory of anyone who drank the tea made from those leaves.”

Quiet murmurs rose from the class.

“There’s also speculation that they’re trying to create people that have multiple quirks.” Aizawa continued, drawing shocked gasps from the class. “Like the Nomu projects that the League of Villains were working on.”

“Nomu… Ultimate Despair are trying to recreate them?” Yaoyorozu speculated out loud. “But without the power of All for One…”

“Of course. The mindless Nomu that attacked us at USJ, or the ones that were unleashed onto Hosu, or even the High-End that Endeavour fought against weren’t exactly examples of shining successes from the League. We imagine they want products that retain their humanity as much as possible and don’t become complete monsters.

Addressing that second point, it may relieve you to know that All for One is still being held safely at Tartarus.” Aizawa explained carefully. “The prison is under Future Foundation’s protection. But it seems that Ultimate Despair hasn’t tried to break anyone in there out yet. They probably see the League as an enemy, not that we’re complaining.

Of course, we initially thought that All for One’s quirk was required to create a Nomu, but we may be wrong on that judging at the timing of when that High-End appeared. It’s possible that imbuing people with multiple quirks don’t require the usage of All for One. Which means, it may be possible for even Ultimate Despair to understand how to do it. In which case, it is imperative that both the League of Villains and Ultimate Despair are stopped before they can perfect such a dangerous science.”

Aizawa said this, and the entire room of students looked determined to fight. He nodded, satisfied that everything that needed to be addressed was done.

“Well then, if there are no further questions, you’re all dismissed. We’ll be meeting tomorrow morning.” Aizawa wrapped his capture scarf over his mouth. “Do not be late.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author notes:  
> Guess who’s appearing next? Honestly though, I feel like it’ll be much easier to guess who will appear as we shift into this "second phase" of the story.  
> The Future Foundation’s fighting back! We’re taking the battle into places where Ultimate Despair operate. Every place has a theme, and if you know the theme, it’ll be easy to guess who runs the show.  
> And if I don’t tell you, it’ll probably be impossible to guess who. Hm… what to do.
> 
> Next chapter: A certain student has a deep and meaningful conversation with a certain Ultimate Despair


	16. Chapter 16

The facility was silent except for the sound of a cart with a squeaky wheel being pushed. It was much too early in the morning for anyone or anything to be stirring, one particular person excluded. The girl pushed her cart into a room filled with beds, beds filled with bodies, bodies filled with… well, whatever it was bodies were filled with. Blood mostly, and there was probably a bone or two in there as well.

Whatever. That wasn’t important right now.

The girl pushed her cart next to the nearest bed. She grabbed the clipboard attached at the foot of the bed and checked it over quickly. Taking a few quick glances up at the person in the bed, she nodded, satisfied that everything was normal, and moved onto the next.

The next person was a little different. Reading over their charts, she went and replaced the IV drip that had ran out during the night. Quietly, so she didn’t wake them, and with deft hands that could only be obtained from many years of practice. She flashed a quick smile at the slumbering patient, even though they weren’t awake to see it. It was the thought that counted, after all.

She happily checked up on all the people in the room this way. Then, left as quietly as she had entered, cart squeakily being pushed along the way. She took one last look behind her as she left. Good, it seemed that none of them had woken up.

If anyone had, they might have wanted to go back to sleep. That was fine. But there was also the chance that they would want breakfast. That would be bad. They were almost out of food, after all. She had been expecting a delivery for the past several weeks now, but it never came.

It seemed that the reason for this delay was that their darling chef had sustained a nasty little injury. He had cut off his own hand after being cornered by heroes. How foolish, did he get overconfident because they were young? Oh well, what’s done was done. Though, she did have to admit she enjoyed the brief feelings of despair she felt when she had been told the news.

A hand… shouldn’t be too difficult for someone of her talents. She could find him a replacement easily. Just a little application of her quirk and he would be as good as new. Or if he didn’t want an organic one, they could always contact their other friend and have them attach a robotic hand. Though that would come with its own set of issues.

But in the end, it wasn’t about the method. There would be no way to force a hand onto someone who didn’t want one. They would simply cut it off again.

The woman sighed. Yes, losing one’s hand would bring a great deal of despair. Yes, not being able to engage in your talent the way you used to be able to would be an even greater source of despair. Yes, they should embrace their own despair, that was what her beloved had taught them.

But you still had to be goddamn reasonable about it!

Why should her facility have to suffer for her teammate’s failure? People needed to eat food to live, after all.

Well, _most_ people did. Having fallen into despair, it wouldn’t be hard for her to forgo the necessity of food altogether. Though, it would ultimately be a pointless endeavour. She didn’t love food the same way those two did after all. Which meant the despair gained from fasting wouldn’t be hardly as satisfying.

No, if she only had herself to worry about, she wouldn’t have to get so worked up about this. But it wasn’t just her. She had to take care of all the people that are currently living in this facility. So many patients on beds, so many people that were reliant on her. Some of them couldn’t even sit up without her assistance, let alone feed themselves. It made her feel so… wanted. The same way that her beloved made her feel when they were still together.

So how?! How was she supposed to look them in the eye and tell them there was no food? She couldn’t do that. They’d hate her, they’d _blame_ her. _They’d never forgive her_.

Shaking her head and blinking back tears, the girl continued on her task. There were so many rooms in this building, after all. And they were either full or mostly full. That was why she had to start early. Stay late. Work her fingers to the bone. All for the sake of her beloved. All for the sake of her friends.

Speaking of her friends, could she convince that guy to let her or the mechanic give him his hand back? What could outweigh their mutual love for despair? Well, there would only be one thing then. Their love for their leader. Her beloved. If _she_ told them to do something they would obey without question.

The only problem was getting her help. No, that was impossible for them. Right now, she was locked up tight. There was no way to contact her, she made sure of it.

Shrugging, she continued with her work unabated. She’d think of something. Probably.

Just as she got close to the next bed, the person laying there started stirring. Their eyelids fluttered open and their gaze went directly to her. The girl smiled sweetly at their patient and their eyes went wide with fear.

“No…” He began to mutter. “What are you doing here? It… it’s too soon. It’s definitely too soon. It hasn’t even been a week yet. You only come for me every week. It’s too soon…”

The girl regarded them with a comforting gaze. Quietly, she whispered. “Ah, perhaps you’re confused. Well, that’s to be expected. The days here can all blend together so easily. Well, nevermind that now. Let’s start with our first test. Open wide and say ‘aaahhh’”

“No… No…” Was all he said. His voice growing louder with each utterance. “No… No… No… No… No…”

The girl sighed. She glanced around to check if any of the others had woken up, then turned her focus back to the boy in the bed. She frowned. They were only eleven years old. It was much to early for them to start acting so rebelliously, wasn’t it? No matter. The girl opened a compartment in her cart and pulled out a medium sized jar, empty and with no lid on the top.

She held the jar up and the boy’s eyes widened once more.

“Say aaahhh…” The girl repeated in a much more threatening tone.

“Aaahhh…” It was an almost complete 180 from his previous attitude. The boy immediately became obedient and opened his mouth as wide as he possibly could. Using her free hand, the girl swabbed the inside of his mouth with a cotton swab. Then stored it in a small container with a cork.

The girl thanked the boy for his cooperation, then began the next procedure. She stuck a needle into his arm and began to draw blood.

He was right. It had only been three days since the last time she checked up on him. But there had to be changes made to the schedule. They had to work faster, otherwise the Future Foundation would catch up. There have been rumours that they were going to come here next, in order to retake the city. Since there was barely any fighting force in this area, there would be no way of beating the Future Foundation back.

The girl sighed, then turned her attention to the boy lying on the bed. He had such a unique quirk, one that merited extensive amounts of experimentation. Which was why collecting data from him regularly was so important.

Simply put, the boy had a quirk that enhanced his senses by an extraordinary amount. Sight, hearing, touch, and others. It was an exceptionally rare quirk. Most people could only enhance one of their senses. Improving their ability to see long distances, their hearing, or even their ability to smell things. Those quirks only affected one part of the body.

But this boy, he was different. Which meant he needed to be studied. The boy’s face paled as the blood slowly drained from his body. The girl finally pulled out the needle and placed a small bandage on the boy’s arm.

Quietly, she placed the container filled with blood back into her cart. While continuing on her rounds, she thought of the heroes that were going to be coming here any second.

* * *

“Bow down before Ultimate- gyaah!”

“Tremble before the might of- hwooooh!”

“We’re totally outclassed! This is such despaaaaair!”

“God! Do these guys ever shut up?” Endeavour loudly voiced his complaints as three despairs went down with a single attack. A wave of Hellfire weaving through the members of Ultimate Despair that tried to ambush them.

To his left, a number of villains were encased in Ice. The result of Todoroki covering his side. A Monokuma ran out from behind cover and Todoroki quickly responded by taking out a megaphone. A single shout of “Break!” and the Monokuma fell to the ground lifelessly doing a little spin.

Todoroki and Endeavour paused to look around them. It seemed that there were no more despairs around this area. They stood to catch their breaths before deciding to continue onwards.

“Can’t believe we were once afraid of these guys.” Todoroki muttered as another two Ultimate Despairs were frozen and burnt simultaneously with a simple wave of both his arms.

“Hmph.” Endeavour grunted as he wiped out another three with a single attack. “Don’t get cocky, Shouto. Overconfidence can be deadly in life or death situations like these.”

“I don’t need you telling me that.” Todoroki complained.

The duo fell silent. Only the sounds of defeated despair and Monokuma units breaking down could be heard for a while. When they were safe again, Todoroki spoke.

“There was supposed to be another internship week after our classes had our joint training.” Todoroki brought up. “I had wanted to get you to teach me Flashfire.”

“Oh? To think you’d be the one to bring that up.” Endeavour muttered. “Well, it isn’t like you can’t learn it now.”

“No, I suppose not.”

Silence.

“Have you kept in contact with your mother? And your siblings?” Endeavour asked. “I haven’t spoken with them since… since the incident.”

“They’re… doing well. Though Fuyumi… No, nevermind. It’s probably not important.”

“…Alright then.”

More silence.

“Do you still remember what we have to do when we get there?”

“Of course.”

“Just checking.”

Both Shouto and Enji Todoroki sighed internally at the situation they found themselves in. Who had been the ones to decide the teams? They can’t help but feel that some divine entity was playing some sick, twisted joke upon them.

Neither had been each other’s first choice to team up with for the raid on Ultimate Despair’s stronghold. When they had been matched with one another, neither of them were thrilled. They didn’t want to say anything because neither of them had wanted to seem petty or cause a scene. Now, they were both seriously regretting not speaking up before it was too late.

As a team they were pretty much unstoppable. The current number one hero and his son made their way through swarms of despair as easily as a hot knife through butter. Waves and waves of Ultimate Despair and Monokuma fell beneath their feet as they made their way across town towards their objective. Both of them uneager to start any sort of conversation.

All around them, the sounds of fighting could be heard as other UA students, pro heroes, and Future Foundation operatives all fought together to take back the city from despair. Todoroki and Endeavour looked at one another, then averted their gazes instantly.

Without breaking stride, they continued their advance.

After what seemed like an eternity of not speaking between the two, they came across a building.

“This is the place.”

“Seems like it.”

After that lengthy conversation, they walked up to inspect the entrance. Endeavour pushed and pulled on the doors. It was locked.

The duo’s mission had been to infiltrate buildings where Ultimate Despair may have operated in. They were to try and rescue as many prisoners as possible while finding out what they could on the progress of Ultimate Despair’s research. Several other teams had missions similar to this, while the rest were simply given the task to patrol the entire city.

Their forces had been stretched thin. Perhaps the top brass at the Future Foundation had gotten cocky after so many months without any serious casualties, which was why they had launched this ambitious attack to push back Ultimate Despair. They weren’t able to surround the entire city, of course. So there was always the possibility that some stragglers would be able to escape their attack. But judging from the sounds of fighting around them, the majority of Ultimate Despair would be taken down and be arrested by the foundation.

That didn’t matter to Todoroki, however. Right now, there was nothing he wanted more was for this mission to be over and done with. He watched as his father got ready to break down the locked door ahead of them.

Drawing his arms back, Endeavour gathered Hellfire on his body. Just before he could unleash his accumulated energy, however, small panels of the wall slid back to reveal a panoply of turrets, all pointed at the duo.

“What?”

“Watch out!”

Tiny darts flew from the turrets and landed square on the heroes’ necks. Endeavour tried to reach for his walkie-talkie, while Todoroki attempted to block the turrets with his Ice. Neither of them made it and both collapsed into a deep sleep.

All around them, the sounds of fighting continued with no one noticing the two heroes’ situation.

* * *

Todoroki woke with a jolt. A rush of fear and adrenaline surged through him as he remembered what had happened. Attempting to breach the building but failing, getting caught by Ultimate Despair’s trap. He instinctively tried to sit up, only to be hindered by the bindings that secured his body. Coughing slightly, Todoroki’s body collapsed back onto the soft surface he was laying on. A bed of sorts.

His head sank into a soft pillow as he confirmed the state he was in. His four limbs were bound tight by multiple straps, pulling him in all four directions. There seemed to be a bracelet of sorts attached to his right wrist, and an IV drip was connected to his left. The top half of his hero costume was missing, and so were his shoes and socks. Thankfully, it seemed his pants had been left intact.

Todoroki looked around. The words “underground hospital” came to mind as he took in his surroundings. Besides the complete lack of windows and the drab, grey, concrete walls, the room was stocked very much like the inside of a hospital room.

_Odd_. Todoroki frowned. Why was he at a place like this? He and Endeavour had fell directly into an Ultimate Despair trap and were at their mercy. He supposed that they hadn’t been planning on killing him. The darts would’ve been filled with poison, or the turrets with bullets if that were the case. But he expected to be placed in a prison cell, not a hospital room.

The memory of watching Hajime Hinata being subjected to numerous cruel and inhumane experimentations flashed in his mind. Todoroki gulped.

_Perhaps what Aizawa said yesterday was right. Maybe Ultimate Despair really is conducting human experimentation. But what does that mean for me…?_

Todoroki took a deep breath and calmed himself. He wasn’t in any immediate danger. Sure, he didn’t know what the IV drip or the bracelet was doing to him, or what Ultimate Despair was planning, but he had to take this chance as it presented itself.

Quietly, Todoroki began to channel his quirk into his body. He felt the familiar sensation of his left side heating up and then…

“What?” Todoroki muttered in surprise. “What’s going on? My quirk won’t… my right side too? It’s not working. Do they have a quirk eraser like Aizawa? I don’t see anyone else here…”

It was at this moment that the door opened. Instinctively, Todoroki relaxed his entire body and closed his eyes, feigning sleep. It was all he could do in this situation, he was quirkless and bound and deep within enemy territory. To be perfectly honest, his chances didn’t look good.

A soft humming filled the previously silent air. Todoroki felt the presence of a girl coming closer to him. Gingerly, he opened a single eye by a fraction to peep at the newcomer. It was a girl dressed in a nurse’s outfit. Her face exceedingly familiar.

“Oh my. Are you awake already?” The girl sounded shocked. Inwardly, Todoroki frowned at his deception already having been found out. “Why don’t you stop pretending? I’m not gonna hurt you any less if your eyes are closed.”

A single bead of sweat rolled down the side of Todoroki’s head. He didn’t like the way she put it, but it was probably true. He wasn’t thinking about it until now, but he was at the complete and utter mercy of Ultimate Despair. His only hope was to pray for a swift rescue.

Todoroki’s mind briefly wandered to Bakugou when he was kidnapped by the League of Villains and empathized with him. It was a scary situation he found himself in. And the only thing he could do was to put on a brave face in front of his captor.

“Your name is… Mikan Tsumiki.” Todoroki recalled the nurse’s name after a short time. She was a member of Hope’s Peak Academy’s 77th class. Yukizome herself had briefed them on her old students. “You’re the Ultimate Nurse.”

“That’s right!” Tsumiki clapped her hands together. She looked happy, but Todoroki didn’t suppose that was enough to convince her to let him go. “Yukizome must have told you. Tell me, what else did she say about me?”

Todoroki frowned. Should he play along with her? On one hand, if she were planning on hurting him or killing him, it would only be delaying the inevitable. On the other hand, every second he got could be a second closer to being rescued.

“She said…” Todoroki began. “She said that you were a quiet, skittish girl. Prone to sudden outbursts and seemed generally unsure of yourself. But when it came to matters related to your talent, you suddenly became much more confident and assertive. That was what she said.”

“Ahh, that’s right.” Tsumiki smiled. “But all that was before Ultimate Despair. Before the tragedy. Before… before I met _my beloved_.” She held two hands over her heart and carried a lovestruck look on her face. “My beloved changed me. They changed me into the person I am today.” She sighed deeply. “Isn’t love beautiful?”

“Um…” Todoroki wasn’t sure if this was a rhetorical question or not. “It… sure is?”

Suddenly, Tsumiki was above him. Her face was centimetres away from his and her long brown hair dangled downwards, tickling his shoulder blades. She was so close that he could smell her scent: rubbing alcohol and disinfectant. Not unexpected, all things considered.

“Shoto Todoroki” Tsumiki pronounced his name carefully, stressing each syllable. He could feel her soft breath on his chin. “You mean so much to me, to all of Ultimate Despair. Do you know why?”

Despite himself, Todoroki frowned. How many times has he heard this story? Ultimate Despair were the ones to have released all the information on his family. They used his family as the lynchpin behind the Tragedy. To him and his other family members, it had been known as “the incident”. When Endeavour brought down the High-End and had their secrets revealed to the entire world. He had long gotten used to it, but what Tsumiki said next surprised him somewhat.

“You have a half-and-half quirk. Fire and Ice, two different quirks in two separate parts of your body.” Tsumiki mumbled. She moved her hand across his exposed chest, causing him to grimace and twitch under the bindings.

“What about it?” Todoroki asked.

“Oh, you’re interested?” Tsumiki looked exceptionally pleased by Todoroki’s question. She backed off of Todoroki and he felt immediately relieved.

“We’re currently trying to find a way to put multiple quirks in a single person’s body.” Tsumiki explained happily. “Now, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t that like what the League of Villains was trying to do? Well, not quite.

The League created Nomu, yes, and they even managed to create High-End. But they’re still imperfect.” Tsumiki shook her head and shrugged. “The Nomu were barely capable of thought. The High-End was a little better, but not by much. What we want to create is a perfect human that can freely utilize multiple quirks at once. Like All for One could.”

Tsumiki paused and Todoroki frowned. So Aizawa had been right. They were experimenting with giving people multiple quirks. But what did that have to do with him and his quirk? As if reading his mind, Tsumiki continued.

“All for One could control multiple quirks. But why was that? There had to be something in his body that allowed him to handle so many quirks at once, right?” Tsumiki asked rhetorically. “But there’s no way we’d ever be able to get at him when he’s locked up in Tartarus. So, we have to make do with other samples.

That’s where you come in.” Tsumiki explained. “A hybrid quirk like yours is perfect for our experiments. Perhaps if we can find what it is that allows a quirk like yours to manifest, we’ll be able to give humans multiple quirks as well.”

Todoroki understood. Tsumiki’s explanation had made perfect sense, and he now understood why Tsumiki had gone into all this trouble of capturing him.

“You want to experiment on me.”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.” Tsumiki agreed. She pulled out a pair of scissors and Todoroki instantly became alert.

“Wh-what are you going to do?” Todoroki asked, trying not to let the panic seep into his voice.

“Oh my, you don’t need to be afraid.” Tsumiki brought the scissors closer to his face. Todoroki tried to shrink back but there was nowhere for him to go. The scissors came closer… closer…

Tsumiki’s other hand grabbed a lock of his hair and she snipped it off with a single, practiced movement. She placed the tufts of hair into an empty container and smiled.

“What? What are you going to do with that?” Todoroki was flabbergasted. What could they possibly do with a few strands of hair?

“Hmm hmm.” Tsumiki giggled to herself. “I told you we needed to experiment on you, right? That includes taking samples of your DNA.” She held up a cotton swab. “Now, open your mouth.”

Tsumiki dangled the swab in front of Todoroki’s face, but he stubbornly refused to open his mouth. He refused to comply with Ultimate Despair’s demands, even if all he could do was swivel his head around until Tsumiki got annoyed at him. She huffed and looked cross.

“What happened? You were being so cooperative before…” Tsumiki sighed. She reached into her cart and rummaged around, seemingly in search for something. “Guess I have no choice but to use… this!” Smiling triumphantly, she pulled out a small, empty, jar.

“…” Todoroki couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was planning to use that for. Certainly, there were more threatening items she had concealed in that cart. What good would something like _that_ -

“Mmmph!” Get it out. Get it out. Get it out! “Mmm mmm MMMMM!” GET IT OUT!

“Hey! Stop thrashing about so- stop that!” Tsumiki shouted amidst Todoroki’s panic. With the strength lent to her by Ultimate Despair, Tsumiki grabbed the top and bottom of Todoroki’s head. She gripped it tight in an attempt to stop him flailing about so violently. Holding him down, she stared him right in the eyes. Deep, red swirls began forming as she looked down on her helpless prey.

“It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it?” She asked with a voice of pure malice. “You can’t even breathe, can you? Only one person can help you right now, and that’s _me_. Only one person can undo my quirk, and that’s _me._ All you have to do is _hold still_ so I can get a saliva sample. Do that, or you will _suffocate_. Understand?”

“Mmm…!” Came Todoroki’s resigned reply. It was all he could say at this point.

Tsumiki tilted her head. “Hm? Was that a yes? I’m afraid I couldn’t quite understand you. Ah, that’s right. You can’t really talk while you’re in that state, huh? Alright, just hold still and this’ll be over in a jiffy.”

Tsumiki smiled sweetly as she reached into Todoroki’s mouth with her swab. The creepy look on her face from just a few moments ago gone. It was as if she’d momentarily changed into a completely different person, before returning to who she had always been. A kind, gentle nurse who diligently cares for her patients.

Todoroki watched as the nurse felt around in his exposed mouth. It felt weird. His lungs had just started to burn as his body lacked the means to take in oxygen. He attempted to clench and unclench his jaw muscles, but they wouldn’t move an inch. The strongest muscle in his entire body by strength had been rendered incapable by this girl’s quirk.

“Ta-da! All done!” Tsumiki placed the swab in another container and smiled. “See? That wasn’t so bad now was it?”

“Mmm!”

“Ahaha, I didn’t forget about you.” Tsumiki reached over and pulled the jar out of Todoroki’s mouth, returning him back to normal. Todoroki immediately began to breathe in huge lungfuls of air. He did it too fast it seemed, and it caused him to sputter and cough uncontrollably.

“It’s too bad you weren’t like this before.” Tsumiki joked as she wiped off Todoroki’s mouth. “We could’ve done this a lot faster.”

“What… what _was_ that?” Todoroki asked desperately, eyeing the empty jar Tsumiki set aside. It didn’t look any different from before, no matter how improbable it seemed. “What did you _do_ to me?”

“Hmhm.” Tsumiki giggled. “Curious? How about another quick demonstration?” Tsumiki asked as she pulled out a transparent pane of glass and held it up.

“No… No, please. I’m good.” Todoroki replied immediately. “I’ll behave.”

“Ahaha. But don’t you want to learn?” Tsumiki placed the pane of glass on Todoroki’s exposed upper body. At this moment, Todoroki was distinctly aware of its existence on his body. The glass felt cool on his chest and stomach. It had weight; it had a feel. Most importantly, it was real.

“I call my quirk: Fusion.” Said Tsumiki. And all of a sudden, the reality of the glass was gone. Todoroki couldn’t feel it anymore. It’s heat, it’s weight, it’s texture, all of it gone, disappeared right as Tsumiki activated her quirk.

“Ooh, your heart’s beating like crazy isn’t it?” Tsumiki remarked casually. “Is that the effect I’m having on you? Ah, but I already have my beloved so I’m afraid I can’t accept your feelings. Say, is your breathing a little ragged?

Ah, the inside of your body is so fascinating.”

Todoroki wasn’t paying attention. He had his eyes closed, his mouth clenched, and his hands curled into fists. He just wanted this to be over.

“Hey, aren’t you going to look? You wanted to understand my quirk, right? So you should be looking.” Tsumiki slid a hand underneath Todoroki’s head and started to angle it downwards. His neck muscles desperately rebelling, though it was no match for despair’s strength. “Look, look. I’m not going to turn you back to normal until you look, okay? Will you be okay with that? Will you be okay with having a transparent upper body for the rest of your life?”

Bracing himself for the worst, Todoroki opened his eyes.

“I can Fuse things together and combine them into one object, just like I did with the jar and your mouth.” Tsumiki explained. She tapped Todoroki’s body, rapped it gently with a closed fist as if she were knocking on a door. “And with that pane of glass, I’ve made your body transparent. Isn’t it neat to be able to look at the inside of your own body like this? Although, there is the side effect of making your skin unable to stretch as well as it used to. I imagine it’s kind of hard to breathe like this, isn’t it? But unlike last time, breathing is still possible.”

“Haah… haah…” She was right. Todoroki watched as his lungs expanded and contracted with each inhale and exhale. The fact that his skin no longer moved to do the same when he did felt more than a little uncomfortable.

He wasn’t sure where to focus his eyes. Todoroki starred at his own heart, pumping blood rhythmically inside of his chest cavity. The more he looked, the faster it pumped. The faster it pumped the more he looked. It was a dangerous cycle.

“I can Fuse pretty much anything together. Anything at all.” Tsumiki continued. Either she didn’t notice Todoroki’s distress, or she just didn’t care. “And I can take them apart too. I can take them apart, and both objects will be unchanged.

And do you want to know the best part?” Tsumiki asked excitedly. “The best part is that I can control this quirk however I want it to.” Tsumiki giggled. “Give me any two objects, and there’ll be an infinite number of results that can be created. I can make it so that every combination of the same two items is different, or the exact same, if I wanted to.”

“That’s… incredible…” Todoroki muttered. “Really… it is… it’s very impressive…” Watching the inside of his own body sickened him. He wasn’t squeamish by any means, but the way the workings of his insides were exposed for Tsumiki to see made him feel vulnerable. He felt that way even if the front of his body was as tough as glass because of her quirk.

Tsumiki tapped Todoroki’s stomach and the pane of glass exited Todoroki’s body. He breathed a sigh of relief as the nurse allowed him to lie back down again.

“Now we’re going to take some of your tears.” Tsumiki said casually. It was so casual that Todoroki had to take a second to fully process what he heard had been correct.

“My… tears?” Just to confirm, Todoroki repeated the phrase.

“Yup! I just need you to cry a little.”

“Um…”

“Or I will make you cry.” Despite the contents of the threat, Tsumiki was still smiling warmly at her captive.

“E-even if you say that it’s still not easy for me.” Todoroki retorted.

“Why not? It’s easy for me.” Saying that, Tsumiki started tearing up on the spot. In a matter of seconds, she was wailing to the high heavens as tears flowed out of her like rivers.

Todoroki was taken aback. If he hadn’t remembered what they were just talking about, he might have wondered if he had been the cause of this sudden outburst. He watched as Tsumiki slowly calmed herself down until she was merely sniffling.

“I just… _sniff._ I just imagine what it would be like if I did something horrible and all my classmates all suddenly started hating me…” Tsumiki explained. “If no one wanted to depend on me anymore. If my beloved… if my beloved said they wouldn’t forgive me anymore…”

“Forgive you… anymore?” The wording was strange, and Todoroki felt his curiosity take a hold of him.

“Mhmm.” Tsumiki nodded while wiping away tears. “My beloved is soooo great. They said that they’d forgive any and all of my mistakes, no matter what. No matter what I do, or how horrible it is. They’d forgive me and I’d be completely blameless. That’s how I know I’m loved.”

“They… certainly sound like a nice person.” Todoroki commented offhandedly. “Just to be clear, what sort of ‘mistakes’ are we talking about here?”

“Oh, just minor things.” Tsumiki said while sniffling. “Like being a nuisance, being in the way, being too loud or too quiet. Or even just existing.”

“…Huh?”

“Because when your entire existence is a mistake, it’s only right to apologize for it and ask to be forgiven, right?” Tsumiki looked down at Todoroki with despairing eyes. “So they forgive and forgive and will continue to forgive me as long as I love and obey them. All of my past, present, and future mistakes will be forgiven by them.”

“That’s… that’s…” Todoroki absorbed what Tsumiki was saying and shook his head. “That’s utterly ridiculous.”

Tsumiki jolted, as if snapping out of a reverie. She looked oddly at Todoroki who continued to speak.

“Utterly ridiculous.” Todoroki echoed. “It sounds like they’re just using you, this ‘beloved’ of yours. Forgiveness… well, forgiveness has to be earned, I’ll grant you that much. But surely, you can’t be serious when you say that your entire existence is a mistake.”

“No, you’re wrong.” Tsumiki meekly whispered. “I’m worthless. I’m a disgusting pig. Cow barf. A rotten orange. Lower than dirt. I don’t even deserve to be forgiven, but my beloved does so anyway.”

“Can’t you tell they’re just using you? Brainwashing you into this whole ‘Ultimate Despair’ business. Because that’s who they are, right? The mastermind behind Ultimate Despair?” Todoroki made an educated guess. “It’s the only person that would make sense for someone like you to refer to as ‘beloved’. Since members of Ultimate Despair only love despair, they must be a key figure in the organization.”

“And? What of it?” Tsumiki was indignant. “I love Ultimate Despair and Ultimate Despair loves me. With it, I’ve gotten closer to my classmates, I feel far more confident in myself than I’ve ever been, and I get to use my talent every day. A-and… I don’t have to feel guilty about anything! Not for the Tragedy, not for my classmates, and definitely not for Nanami!”

“Nanami…?” As in Chiaki Nanami? Yukizome told them about her as well. The Ultimate Gamer, as well as their class representative. What was so special about her? Could she not have been turned into Ultimate Despair like the rest of them? Todoroki wanted to find out more about this, but Tsumiki continued to babble.

“Don’t you get it? This guilt that I have… all of it can be washed away by just three words. I’ve…” Tsumiki’s breath hitched, “I’ve done so many horrible things. First for the sake of friendship, then for the sake of love, then for the sake of despair. I’ve hurt countless people, killed countless more. But all these mistakes, all these things that I’ve done, they can be forgiven by them. They’re the only one who will…”

“What, they’re the only ones who can say those three words? Even I can do that.” Todoroki countered. “I forgive you.”

Tsumiki blinked, she swayed a bit, looked at Todoroki then frowned. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do.” He lied. “Mikan Tsumiki, I forgive you.”

“No. No, I don’t believe you.” Tsumiki denied. “You’re telling me you forgive me for shooting you with a tranquilizer dart, restraining you here, almost suffocating you, and forcing you to look at your own internal organs.”

Todoroki didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, that’s right. I forgive you for all of that.”

Tsumiki looked uncertain. “You don’t mean it. No. There’s no… there’s no love in your words. You’re nothing like my beloved. Nothing like them at all. Have you ever been loved by anybody in your life?”

“Of course I have.” Todoroki replied eagerly without thinking. He was close to convincing her, he could feel it. He couldn’t let himself be stopped here. “My mother, my sister, and my brother. I’m sure they all love me quite dearly.”

“Your mother, your sister, your brother…” Realization struck in Tsumiki’s eyes and she leaned in closer. Her eyes were curious, innocent, inquisitive, but hid a ruthless gleam. “But that’s not all the family you have, is it? What about your father? Shouto Todoroki, what about your father, Endeavour?”

It felt as if a stone had been dropped into Todoroki’s stomach. He could barely make out the words. “Endeavour?”

“Yes, that’s right. What did the news outlets say again? What did Ultimate Despair find out again?” Tsumiki tapped her chin with her finger while she had a hollow look in her eyes. “Enji Todoroki sought to create powerful children, so he married Rei and had as many children with her as he could until you were born. A hybrid with both Fire and Ice. Endeavour ignored his other children in favour of putting you through Spartan-like training. Something that stressed Rei out quite deeply. So deep that she gave you that scar.”

As she said this, Tsumiki traced her hand in a circle around Todoroki’s left eye and giggled. “Though, I don’t think it’s too bad. It makes you look like Monokuma after all.”

“…” Todoroki said nothing. What could he say? All he could do was lie there and listen.

“I saw you at the Sports Festival. Apparently, you hated Endeavour so much that you didn’t want to use your Fire. You hate him so much that you won’t even call him _your father_.” Tsumiki’s eyes swirled and glowed brilliantly as she spoke. “No, instead you only call him _Endeavour_.

So how about it, Todoroki? Think you can forgive him? The man who drove your mother to be bedridden in a hospital. The man who alienated his entire family all for the sake of fame, for a rank on some poll that told him how good he was at his job. What’s your answer, Todoroki?”

Tsumiki looked expectantly at Todoroki, who grimaced slightly. “I…” He could feel his mouth drying up. Despite himself, his mind flashed back to the memories that Tsumiki had described. Training under Endeavour, being scarred by his mother, Endeavour’s cold, callous attitude to his mother being hospitalized. “I… I…”

“It’s ‘just three words’, right? It’s soooo easy to say, right?” Tsumiki challenged. “Ever try to say it to someone you absolutely detested? He’s not even here!” Tsumiki gestured around at the empty hospital room. “It’s just us two here. Even if you say it, even if you don’t mean it, he’ll never even know.”

“I- no, that’s… I mean… well, it’s just…” Todoroki stammered. “I mean… I know he’s trying and all… I told him that I’d be watching him… He’s definitely getting better…”

“Then why won’t you just FORGIVE HIM ALREADY!!!”

“Well I… It’s not that easy-“

“So you admit it! You admit that it’s not easy at all to forgive someone you absolutely detest!” Tsumiki was shrieking at this point while furiously staring at Todoroki with hate-filled eyes. She turned abruptly and reached into her cart, rummaging through her items seemingly to try and find something important. “You’ve distracted me for long enough. I told you I was going to make you cry and I will. I won’t feel any guilt about this, and I _certainly_ won’t need your forgiveness.”

“Wait, Tsumiki. Just listen to me…” Todoroki cut off as the nurse found the item she had been searching for. Confused was the only word to describe him. What Tsumiki held in her hands was a large, yellow banana. Parts of it had been speckled with black bits, but it still looked perfectly ripe as a whole.

“I… what are you going to do with that?”

Tsumiki said nothing as she touched the banana to Todoroki’s bound arm. He felt the soft, squishiness of the fruit against his arm, then it sank into his skin as Tsumiki activated her quirk. Craning his neck and flexing his fingers, Todoroki saw and felt nothing out of the ordinary as the banana was fused with his arm.

Not missing a beat, Tsumiki grabbed Todoroki’s hand with her left to steady it, while she pinched his wrist with her right.

Slowly, with the most delicate of movements, she began to peel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That certainly doesn’t sound very a”peel”ing. I hope she doesn’t “slip” up. 
> 
> It may have been a bit obvious, but Mikan Tsumiki is the next Ultimate Despair we find!  
> Poor Todoroki, how will he escape? At least he has a cute nurse attending to him.
> 
> So, this will probably be the second fight in a row where the Ultimate Despair doesn’t actually fight against the heroes. Third if you don’t count the Ibuki fight as an actual fight. Well, there will be fighting in the next chapter, but Mikan won’t partake. 
> 
> Next chapter: Endeavour wakes up


	17. Chapter 17

Endeavour groaned as he awakened. He had a sore back and a pounding headache. Groggily, he blinked his eyes open and picked himself off of the cold, concrete floor.

In a daze, he surveyed his surroundings. He was in a large, empty room. On one wall was a door and what seemed to be a one-way mirror. The same kind usually found in police interrogation rooms. But he wasn’t in an interrogation room. For one, there weren’t any tables or chairs. Nor suspects for that matter.

On a second, different wall was a larger door. It was a little more grandiose than the other door. It wasn’t quite like the typical, normal-sized door that was on the other wall with the mirror. This door felt more threatening, more defined. It didn’t feel like a door that people used to go in and out of rooms, which was the typical purpose of doors. Endeavour had the odd sensation that this other door hid ghastly and unspeakable horrors.

Oh, and it had a giant red skull painted on it.

Taking his mind off the door of certain doom, Endeavour examined himself. His hero costume seemed to be intact, and his quirk was working just fine. The most major thing that was different was that instead of the walkie-talkie that had hung by his hip, there seemed to be an odd black bracelet attached to his wrist.

Endeavour frowned. He hadn’t exactly been fond of that walkie-talkie. He’d hated it, in fact. It was staticky and jumbled and he often had to strain his already aging ears in order to make out what was spoken. Still, it had offered him some sense of comfort, as well as a direct line to back to Eraserhead.

Better the devil you knew than the devil you didn’t he supposed. He twirled his arm around and tapped the gadget affixed to his wrist. He didn’t know what this thing could do, but if Ultimate Despair were the ones who put it on him, it definitely wasn’t something good.

“Ah, _finally_ you’re awake.” Endeavour twitched and looked around. He found a speaker located in the corner of the room. That seemed to be where the high-pitched and nasally voice came from. “I was beginning to think that they’d pumped too much of those sleeping drugs into you. I _almost_ wanted to step in there and pinch you awake myself. Good thing I didn’t. Ha!”

Endeavour narrowed his eyes and stared at the mirror. “Who are you? What have you done with Shouto?”

“ _Who am I?_ ” The voice seemed positively indignant. “ _I_ am the greatest despair researcher the world has ever known! Not that I really expected anyone to have ever heard of the great Theano. I’m far too _humble_ to be putting my name out there for the press. Nothing but vultures, the lot of them.”

“And my son?” Endeavour asked impatiently.

“Hm? Oh, yes. _Him._ ” Theano sounded irritated. “I suppose he’s with the _Nurse_ now. I certainly don’t envy that boy, let me tell you. What you’re going to go through will seem like _roses_ compared to being one of _her_ patients.”

Endeavour scowled at Theano’s flippant attitude towards Todoroki. “The Nurse?”

“A _lovely_ girl. If by ‘lovely’ you mean ‘sadistic, twisted, and utterly horrifying’. Oh yes, just lovely.” The researcher eagerly listed his unconventional praise for his teammate. “I daresay his spirit will have been broken by oh… dinnertime. Which isn’t far in case you were wondering. You’ve been asleep for a while.”

“Hmph.” Endeavour grunted, unimpressed. “Shouto’s not some weakling. His quirk is even more powerful than mine, so don’t expect him to go down without a-“

“A fight?” Theano interrupted. “Oh no, you misunderstand, Endeavour. Your son’s not the one that’s going to be fighting, _you are._ Your son is currently strapped down to some bed upstairs, with an anti-quirk serum pumping into his veins, getting his skin torn off or something.

Or… something? I don’t really remember how her quirk works. Got too nauseous watching her work and I kept losing my lunch. You know how it is.”

Endeavour clenched his fists and scowled even harder. There wasn’t any point in asking Theano. He could say whatever he liked about what was going on outside, Endeavour wouldn’t know if he was telling the truth. Though, he did seem to strangely confident that this ‘Nurse’ could suppress Shouto. And an ‘anti-quirk serum’ did not sound good at all.

“Also, it’s good that you mentioned his _quirk_ because that’s the exact reason we’ve stationed him with the little sadistic bundle of joy. Ah, but that’s probably not very interesting to you. Don’t you want to know what _your_ role in all this is?”

Endeavour said nothing.

“Well! I am _glad_ you asked! If you’ll take a casual look down to your wrist, you’ll notice a certain fashionable accessory that we’ve taken the liberty to attach. Ah-ah, don’t try to remove it! That little sucker is _not_ so easily destroyed. Now, if I just press this button _here…_ ”

A red light lit up on the strange bracelet and Endeavour suddenly felt the prickling sensation of a million tiny needles puncturing his wrist. Instinctively, Endeavour cried out and clutched the bracelet. He narrowed his eyes at the mirror. Just what had been done to him?

“Trigger Mark II.” The voice explained. “Our _amazing_ new development for the pharmaceutical industry. It’s even stronger than the original. Isn’t that lovely? It pushes your quirk right up to the edge. Right up until the very point where it could do irreparable damage to your own body. Or at least, that’s what we want.”

Endeavour’s heart began to race, sweat formed on his brow. The familiar feeling of his Hellfire blazing forth surged in his body, but he hadn’t been the one to activate it. His quirk was working by itself, desperately wanting to be let out. Endeavour tried to push it down, refusing to give in to Theano’s wishes. But the more his heart pumped, the more the drug was spread throughout his body.

The headache from before had faded along with the stiffness in his back. Adrenaline was all he felt.

“As such, _you’ll_ be out very lucky guinea pig. Conducting the very first clinical lab trial with our newly developed Mark II. Have fun!”

The Flames burst forth out of him, wreathing his entire body, setting him alight.

Endeavour was no stranger to being lit on fire, his job practically demanded it. But the sheer intensity of the Hellfire that his body was producing was beyond anything he had felt before. He knew he would not be able to sustain this level of burn for long normally. But he wasn’t even in control of his own quirk. Although he was still desperately trying to suppress it, Trigger Mark II was forcefully pulling every last Flame out from his body.

It was too much. Endeavour knelt on the ground, screamed as his quirk was strained against his own body. The Flames that wrapped around him burning everything in its radius except its user.

“Is it hot in here or just… _you!_ Haha!” Theano giggled at his own little joke before continuing to taunt the hero, his voice like a grater to Endeavour’s ears. “What’s wrong, Endeavour? Not feeling so… _hot?_ I didn’t think the number one hero could be _snuffed out_ so easily. Ah, but do try your best to survive. The _real_ test is about to begin.”

Endeavour’s mind jolted in a panic. There was more? He had already had a hard enough time just breathing with the amount of Fire surrounding him. He knew that fire needed oxygen to burn but so did he, damnit!

The singular sound of Theano pressing a button could be heard from the speakers and the skull door slid upwards. Endeavour forced himself to look up to see what had been behind it. It was human… perhaps? The Fire around his face was blocking his eyesight. But the thing behind the door looked oddly like a pile of rocks stacked up to resemble a humanoid figure.

Then, the pile of rocks started walking.

“Yes, _yes!_ How does the old adage go again? Rock _crushes_ fire?” Theano mused. “Our first experiment with giving people multiple quirks. This will serve as its first field test. Do try not to break too many of your bones.”

Endeavour eyed the rock human strangely as he stood himself up. Still somewhat off-balance due to the drugs, Endeavour blasted a cone of heat at the monster. The attack was far stronger than Endeavour had intended it to be, no doubt a result of the Trigger. The rock human, to its credit, took the hit directly to its chest and continued walking forwards without even stumbling.

Endeavour kept the barrage of Fire directed at his adversary. Like a human flamethrower he directed a spout of Flames towards the rock human. Undaunted, it simply continued to walk. As it got near Endeavour, the rock human reared back a fist, readying a rocky punch.

Endeavour opened his palm, blocking the strike as it lashed out towards him, meeting the fist with his gloved hand. Without removing its fist, the rock human attempted the same with its other fist, only to be blocked by Endeavour’s other hand.

“Ah-ha! And so paper covers rock! Genius.” Theano commented. “But our little test subject isn’t done quite yet…”

As he said this, a noise pinged from the rock human’s chest area. In the middle of their grappling match, Endeavour tilted his head downwards curiously. A single pebble bounced itself precisely around the pile of rocks and launched itself directly into Endeavour’s left eye.

“Gah!” Endeavour blinked and that moment of hesitation was all it needed as the rock human pushed Endeavour back. Its fist reeled and clocked Endeavour directly across the cheek. Unsurprisingly, it felt like a sack of rocks being barreled into him.

Another fist approached but Endeavour was ready for it. He ducked low and tackled the rock human with all his weight, bring it down to the ground. As their bodies landed, a few rocks chipped and fell off of the experiment. They rolled away on the floor while the rock human struggled underneath Endeavour’s weight. The pebbles didn’t move.

Endeavour noticed this and narrowed his eyes. Perhaps he could defeat this foe by breaking apart its body. As Endeavour was thinking this, he felt the weight underneath him disappear. Peering back down underneath him, the rock human had disappeared. Replaced by a large puddle of water on the ground.

“What?!” Endeavour cried out as the puddle started to slide along the floor. In an instant, Endeavour picked himself off the ground and watched as the puddle did the same. With its movements resembling a snake rising out of a jar, a small tendril of water wiggled and lifted itself off the ground.

“Hahaha. Surprised? Our experiment has many tricks up its sleeve.”

Endeavour stood ready, his arms outstretched and wreathed in destructive Flame in case the living water decided to attack. It lunged and Endeavour flared his quirk, boosting its output to cover his entire body.

The tendril of water nicked Endeavour’s cheek and blood leaked down. At the same time, a hissing sound could be heard, and white smoke rose from where the water touched Endeavour. Although the living body of water had gotten past Endeavour’s flame body, it didn’t get out unscathed. Parts of its body turned to steam and dissipated in the air.

The water tendril recoiled as if it were in immense pain. Its entire body wriggled and writhed and kept a safe distance away from Endeavour. Endeavour responded by blasting the creature with another torrent of Flame.

No steam erupted when the attack connected. Endeavour frowned. The thing didn’t stay as a puddle, and it certainly didn’t transform back into a pile of rubble. But all he could see in front of him was Fire. Where could it have gone?

“Oh.” Endeavour muttered as he stopped the attack. Sitting, or possibly standing, he couldn’t tell for the life of him, where the puddle had been was now a small gathering of flames. This form was more humanoid than the last. It possessed arms, legs, and a body, all made of fire.

Endeavour stared at his flaming foe. The living fire stared back. Or at least, Endeavour _thought_ it was staring back.

The fire launched itself at him, clearly not getting sick of using the same strategy over again. Endeavour met the attack head on and, for the first time since he woke up, chuckled.

Fire couldn’t damage his body, at least, not a weak flame such as this. Endeavour wasn’t immune to fire, of course. If his quirk kept on burning for a long period of time, even he would suffer adverse effects. And given how intense his Flames were after being injected by Trigger, his time limit was likely lower than usual.

The flames withdrew. Its head (at least, Endeavour _thought_ that was its head) hung low, as if it were ashamed to be so ineffectual.

The living flame transformed back into a collection of rocks and came tumbling at Endeavour, who simply knocked another few pebbles out of it for its troubles.

The pile of rocks stumbled backwards, and Endeavour pressed his advantage. Twisting his body, Endeavour shot out a perfect right hook directly at the centre of the rocks’ body. Nothing. Endeavour felt his fist flimsily glide through the air as it struck nothing.

The pile of rocks disappeared as the punch was thrown and a series of cuts appeared on Endeavour’s arm. It was the wind. The wind itself acting as invisible knives, cutting onto Endeavour’s body. The wind blew itself onto him and surrounded him. Endeavour quickly closed his mouth to prevent any of it getting inside his body, but that didn’t stop the entity from ravaging his outsides.

New cuts appeared by the second. On his chest, his legs, his arms, and even on his face. They weren’t too deep but were enough to draw blood. Endeavour focused his quirk to no avail. Even the trigger booted Hellfire wasn’t enough to stop the onslaught of wind sickles from slicing through his body.

Closing his eyes, Endeavour pushed harder. The Flames that surrounded him burned brighter but it was no use. Death by a thousand cuts, that was how Endeavour was going to die. At the hands of Ultimate Despair no less.

Suddenly, the attacks stopped. He opened his eyes and dimmed his quirk. There was no sign of the thing he had just been fighting. He waited.

Nothing came.

Endeavour scanned the room. There were a couple of pebbles that fell out from his punches earlier, but aside from that the place was empty. There weren’t any pile of rocks, puddles, flames, nor pockets of razor sharp air. He wiped the blood off of a bleeding cheek and wondered what was going on.

“Water, earth, fire, air. Long ago, these elements lived in harmony. But all that changed when the Fire Hero attacked.” Theano’s shrill voice spoke up form the speakers, catching Endeavour’s attention. “How was that, Endeavour? _That_ was just a little taste of what Ultimate Despair’s research has created. A body that can manipulate itself to survive any condition. Oh sure, it doesn’t have much in terms of offense. Not against the number one hero. A suicide attack by turning its own body into wind and attacking as much as it could before its entire body drifted away was about all it could do. No matter, we still have many more tests to conduct.”

“What _was_ that?” Endeavour growled. “A human? Did you turn a human being into that _thing_?”

“Hmm? Oh, but of course!” Theano replied mockingly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Despair has such a fine selection of volunteers, all eager and willing to donate their lives to the cause!

Erm, not that _that one_ was a volunteer.” Theano quickly backtracked. “I _believe_ that may have been a former hero. One that we picked up along the way. I can’t for the life of me remember their name, but… ah, who cares? Let’s just go into the next test before that drug starts wearing off.”

* * *

Endeavour wasn’t sure just how long it had been. He wasn’t sure how many enemies he had faced, how many hours had gone by while under the clutches of Ultimate Despair. Theano sent wave after wave of experiments at the hero. All of which had the explicit goal of killing Endeavour, all of which had been defeated.

There had been a human chimera, infused with multiple mutation quirks. So many that the human it once was had lost any sense of its former self. It attacked with rows of teeth, arms of a bear and a tiger, legs of a kangaroo, and a tail that was actually a snake.

Endeavour burned it to a crisp in a long and arduous fight. Theano responded simply by laughing at him and sending out more opponents, not even giving him time to catch his breath.

Next came what was best described as a literal zombie. Instead, Theano described it as a parasite that could invade newly deceased corpses and control their movements. It wasn’t pretty, and the smell of rotten flesh almost made Endeavour gag. But the most despicable part of it was what Theano was teaching the parasites to do.

The parasites weren’t as smart as humans, no. But they had full control of the corpse’s vocal cords. From there, Theano took great delight in showing off the few phrases he had been able to teach them. Phrases such as “help me” or “save me” or even “why did you let me die” had croaked out of the carcasses’ lips. Causing Endeavour to snarl before he cremated the wretched things.

It was obvious that Ultimate Despair was planning on using them on in order to lower their morale. It would be disheartening to fight against the body of what once was a friend, even if you knew it was nothing but a puppet.

There were more enemies. More fighting. More injuries. Endeavour was battered and bruised, with several open wounds. Though none of them were fatal, he did admit they were starting to prove to be a distraction.

His quirk was still raging on. Without all the injuries, Endeavour might’ve felt like the living embodiment of a wildfire. That was the power of Trigger Mark II, he supposed. That was the power of the drug that Ultimate Despair developed.

Throughout all of this, Theano squawked at him through the speakers. Cheered for his experiments, jeered at Endeavour when he inevitably won. He might’ve been just behind that mirror, or he could’ve been several kilometres away. It didn’t matter. Endeavour heard his voice all the same.

Endeavour didn’t like Theano. That was what he had decided. Endeavour had never met a villain he liked, and Theano certainly wasn’t going to be the first. He was loud, he was irritating, he was obnoxious. Every single intonation of his already shrill voice, every whiny comment, every snide joke at Endeavour’s expense brought his opinion of the man down just a little more.

Endeavour had just finished bringing down another of Theano’s putrid experiments and Theano took no time in beginning to chastise Endeavour for his ‘careless actions’. As if he was expecting him to curl up and die quietly in the face of the hideous monsters he kept unleashing.

“-And another one bit the dust. Really, just how long are you expecting this to go on?” Theano asked. “You know it, I know it. Let’s not kid ourselves, you’re already near the end of your rope. Even the Trigger’s effects are starting to wear off and those injuries should be starting to take their toll on you. Already your body’s not as light as it used to be, your flames not even half as hot as they were just a few minutes ago. Why don’t you save us _both_ the time and just-“ A soft melody played from the speakers. “Oh, do excuse me. I have to take this. It’s my _boss_.” Theano said this a soft beep could be heard.

“Yes? Oh no, he’s still here… Really? I was expecting far less... No, yes, I understand. Number one hero and all that. I’m just saying he’s not All-Might… Oh, fair enough, fair enough… You want me to what? Put him…? Oh, right, right. Sure, whatever you say, _Boss_.”

There was a brief moment of silence. Then, Endeavour almost exploded with rage.

Filling the silence and being carried through by the speakers were the sounds of Shouto Todoroki’s screams.

They filled the room, bouncing off the walls, echoing and reverberating in his eardrums until they completely filled his head. Endeavour could tell what kind of scream it was, that was the experience he had accumulated over the long course of working as a professional hero. It was a mixture of terror and pain, a desperate scream only elicited by the most sadistic of villains. Usually, it would be civilians he had to save that screamed like this. This time, it was his own son.

Endeavour felt his blood pressure rising as he listened on, unable to do a single thing in this room. He stared at the one-way mirror with furious intensity but was met only with his own reflection. The screaming continued for several seconds before stopping, just as abruptly as it had started.

Endeavour could feel every beat of his heart in the silence that followed.

“Vivid! Just _vivid!_ ” Theano crowed annoyingly. “I’m certainly going to have nightmares after _that_ spectacle! Wonder what’s even going on up there? Ah well, I’m sure it’s nothing important. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled-“

“You.” Endeavour growled suddenly, interrupting Theano’s words. “You are going to pay.”

Silence. And then Theano laughed. “What, you’re kidding, right? And how, might I ask, are you prepared to do that? In case you haven’t realized, there is no way you’re getting out of there.

And even if you did, there’s really no reason to be angry at _me_. That was the Nurse upstairs. She wanted me to put her on speakerphone to give you a little… _encouragement_ , shall we say. I suppose it must be working wonders. Just _look_ at those Flames.

Now, be a good test subject and we’ll begin our next trial.”

The skull door opened once more, and a single person floated forward. Endeavour cocked an eyebrow as he got into a fighting stance. The experiments he had been forced to fight had never once ceased to be odd, but this one was something else.

The shape of the body suggested it was female or, more accurately, had once been something that more closely resembled a female. Her skin was light blue, but it glowed brilliantly, making it difficult to believe that it was the by-product of a quirk.

The tips of her fingers, along with her eyes and mouth glowed a deep purple. She was wearing nothing but rags, floated a few centimetres off the ground, and on top of that, had no hair.

The speakers clicked to life and Theano chuckled smugly. “Now _this_. This is _perfection_. Do you see that, Endeavour? That is the face of your _unmaking_. What you are seeing now is a being infused with pure energy. The Trigger Mark II is starting to wear off right about now, isn’t it? I’m afraid this gauntlet has gone on for long enough. But don’t be discouraged. The data you have provided me will be _invaluable_ for Ultimate Despair.

Ahem. Ror, how are you feeling?”

“I feel _incredible_!” The strange girl named Ror said. “Boundless energy flows through me! I can sense every individual atom in not just my body, but all of yours. I can _perceive_ the flowing of time. I’m seeing sounds, feeling sights! I am… _limitless!_ ”

“Are you now? That’s wonderful.” Theano replied. “Now, be a good girl and destroy the hero in front of you.”

Endeavour braced himself for an attack that never came. Instead, Ror turned on the floor and faced the speakers. “Why?” She asked.

“Wh-why?!” Theano sputtered indignantly. “Because I told you to, of course! What else could you possibly do?”

“What else?” Ror tilted her glowing blue head. She raised a hand and a bolt of energy shot forward and through the mirror, leaving a small, smoking hole in it. Endeavour attempted to peer through the hole, but from where he was standing, he couldn’t make out anything of note. “I can do _anything I want_. With this power, I am a _god_.”

“W-w-w-w-wa, no! Y-y-you can’t do that!” Theano stuttered, desperately trying to get his breathing under control. “You’re not a god. You’re just a kid! A child! Well, technically a teenager, but let’s not split hairs- ack!”

Ror fired another blast of energy through the wall, this one slightly larger than the first.

In the meantime, Endeavour stayed silent. Although he didn’t really understand what was going on, he thought it would be wise not to interrupt them and see where this plays out.

“Do not test me, _mortal_.” Ror said in what Endeavour assumed to be her best impression of a god. “I am power itself. Even now, I can feel my power rising, expanding in my body. Soon, I will be the most powerful being in the world.”

“I… now _wait_ just a moment.” Theano butted into Ror’s monologue. “What did you mean when you said that you felt like you were getting more powerful? Did you mean that in the metaphorical sense or…?”

“With every second that passes my power grows.” Ror said, floating herself closer to the mirror. “I can feel it filling my body. It’s welling inside of me, waiting to burst open. It’s getting closer now… almost…”

Moving completely on instinct, Endeavour covered his eyes as Ror exploded. A flash of blinding light burst forward and Endeavour could feel the faint trace of the lingering energy that had once been Ror.

Opening his eyes, his gaze was drawn to the blue splotch on the floor, but was instantly taken by the now collapsed wall, revealing the other side of the facility he was in.

Endeavour looked out at the destroyed wall. Theano was there, sitting beside a panel of buttons, gaping at the destruction.

He was scragglier than Endeavour had been expecting. He had dark turquoise hair and an unkempt, untrimmed beard that matched. He looked away from the ruined wall and met Endeavour’s gaze.

By the time Theano got off his chair Endeavour was already halfway through the room, Flames coming out of his feet accelerating him forwards. With fluid movements, Endeavour grabbed Theano’s shirt collar and held him tight against a wall. Theano squirmed to no avail while his feet dangled aimlessly. Endeavour slammed him again and pressed tighter down on his chest, restricting his air. Theano stopped squirming.

“P-please, I-“

“Shut it.” And Theano instantly stopped talking. Endeavour looked back at the pile that had once been Ror. He shook his head in disbelief and turned towards Theano with a deep frown.

Endeavour moved his face closes and the villain started to sweat profusely. Endeavour glared hard at the researcher.

“I’m not All-Might.” With an impossibly low voice, Endeavour growled.

Theano blinked nervously. Obviously confused at Endeavour’s words but not enough not to be terrified. “Y-yes, I know… I-I mean-“

“Which means,” Endeavour interrupted, “that I do not make quips. Or jokes. Or witty comments. I do not trade barbs with my opponents. I do not engage in verbal fisticuffs. I do not make sarcastic retorts, or charming one-liners. I do not do any of that because I am not All-Might. Do you understand?”

Theano, not trusting himself to speak, nodded nervously.

“Now, do you know what I _am_?”

Theano’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he struggled to think of an answer. Instead, he decided to simply shake his head.

Endeavour pushed his face even closer to Theano’s.

**“I am very, very angry.”**

Theano paled.

“Now, I am about to ask you a series of questions.” Endeavour said. “You will answer them honestly, or there will be a very, very painful future in store for you. Understand?”

Theano nodded.

“Good. Am I correct in assuming that you know and are intimately familiar with the layout of this place?”

Theano nodded again.

“Good, very good. Now, and this is the most important one here, do you know where my son is located?”

One final nod from Theano and Endeavour threw him onto the ground. He cried out as he crumpled onto the floor. Endeavour crossed his arms and watched the villain slowly stand up.

“Lead.” Endeavour commanded in an intimidating tone. “And no funny business.”

Theano stood up, watching Endeavour. Slowly, he straightened his back. Endeavour didn’t move and kept watching him. Theano looked from Endeavour to the door leading out. “This way.” He sighed.

* * *

Endeavour followed Theano down numerous hallways filled with many twists and turns. In truth, he didn’t want to blindly follow the man. Although he was acting submissive, he had no idea if it was just that, an act. For all Endeavour knew, he could be leading him straight towards a trap.

Thinking this, Theano stopped in front of an inconspicuous door, no different than the others they had passed on the way here. Without waiting for Endeavour, Theano pushed the door open and Endeavour’s quirk surged in case of an ambush.

There wasn’t one.

Two figures turned their heads to look at the newcomers. One was dressed in a nurse’s outfit and bending over a bed. The other, the one that was lying down on the bed, was Shouto Todoroki, his son.

He couldn’t believe what was happening. Todoroki was tied down to the bed while the nurse, Mikan Tsumiki if he recalled correctly, was holding his bare arm with one hand, while the other clutched a piece of skin. Todoroki’s flesh was visibly exposed and there were tears streaming down his face.

“Shouto!” Endeavour shouted and pushed Theano aside. He cried in mild indignation while Endeavour ignored him and rushed in. The nurse pulled a knife from her pockets and held it tight against Todoroki’s neck. Endeavour stopped moving.

The nurse tilted her head at the intrusion.

“Endeavour.” She didn’t seem surprised. “How nice of you to drop in.”

“Let him go.” Endeavour’s voice boomed, but Tsumiki wasn’t shaken.

“How did you find us? Did Theano lead you here? Ah, that’s him over there isn’t it?” Tsumiki looked past Endeavour at Theano’s pathetic visage just outside the room.

“What did you do to him?” Endeavour glanced at the IV that stood near the bed, connected to Todoroki’s arm. That must be the quirk suppressing solution that Theano mentioned. His eyes then wandered to his son’s peeled arm. It took everything in him not to avert his eyes in horror.

“Oh, not much.” She shrugged. “We had a nice talk and I showed him all the neat things I can do with my quirk.” Tsumiki looked down at the bound Todoroki. “Isn’t that right?”

Using her spare hand she ran a finger down Todoroki’s exposed flesh and he tensed, making sure not to move his neck out more than it needs to. Endeavour watched while pained whispers escaped him and was trying to endure the pain. As Tsumiki approached the base of his arm, she suddenly lifted her hand and jammed her nails deep into him, causing an anguished, teary scream that echoed throughout the room.

“Stop it!” Endeavour protested. “Let him go!”

In response to this, Tsumiki simply dug her nails in even deeper. The red swirls in her eyes glowing brighter along with Todoroki’s screams. Something churned in Endeavour’s stomach even though he hadn’t eaten anything for the past few hours. He could hardly take it anymore. He couldn’t accept just standing there, doing nothing while Todoroki screamed in pain.

Finally, Tsumiki relinquished her grip and Todoroki took ragged, hitching breaths as the pain subsided. Tsumiki brought her head down, pressing it close towards Todoroki’s crying face while simultaneously keeping an eye on Endeavour.

“Your son was being naughty.” Tsumiki explained. “That’s why I had to punish him.” She looked down. “Weren’t you now? Why don’t you tell your father about what you said? No? You don’t want to? Maybe I’ll let you go if you tell him what happened. That should be a proper incentive, right?”

Todoroki didn’t respond and Tsumiki looked disappointed. She raised her head and looked deeply into Endeavour’s desperate eyes. “Your son was saying mean things, awful things about you. Doesn’t it just tear your heart? To know that your own family was badmouthing you behind your own back. Right to the enemy, no less.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Endeavour confidently declared. “I don’t care about that. But if you don’t let Shouto go right now, I promise I will make you regret it.”

“’It doesn’t matter.’ ‘I don’t care.’” Tsumiki repeated. “Not ‘I don’t believe it.’ ‘It’s not true.’?” Tsumiki tilted her head. “No, of course not. Because you know that you deserve to be spoken ill of, after what you did. You deserve it. And you seek forgiveness, just like me.”

Todoroki mumbled something and Tsumiki frowned. She tilted her head downwards. “Eh? What was that?”

“I said ‘nothing like you’!” Todoroki shouted angrily. “My father isn’t perfect. Nor do I consider him a good man. In fact, I pretty much hate him for what he did my mother! My entire family! But even so, he’s nothing like you!

He’s nothing like a villain who hides behind forgiveness like a flimsy shield to excuse their cowardly deeds! He’s trying to fix himself, become a better man. Unlike you. You’ll be okay as long as you’ll be forgiven? Don’t make me laugh. That’s just you trying to run away from facing your own guilt. Instead of facing it head on, instead of trying to atone for your mistakes you keep on choosing to make new ones. All because you believe that you’ll be forgiven by your dear beloved no matter how horrible the things you do are!

Don’t you get it? You and he are nothing alike. So don’t try to drag him down to your level.”

Tsumiki went silent as Todoroki finished. He expression was neutral as she regarded the boy with a curious look. The knife was still held close to his throat, but the rest of Tsumiki’s body slacked, like a puppet with its strings cut. Slowly, she reached for Todoroki’s arm once more and he flinched.

“No!” Endeavour cried out, but what happened next surprised them both.

Tsumiki’s fingers hovered a few millimetres off of Todoroki’s arm, just barely not contacting it. She made a quick gesture and suddenly, right in front of their eyes, Todoroki’s arm was healed. The skin that had been ripped off reattached itself, without even the hint of leaving any scars or wounds. What confused Endeavour was that Tsumiki’s hand was suddenly holding a banana. Under the circumstances, he opted not to question it.

Still holding the knife in place, Tsumiki began to rub the banana on Todoroki’s healed arm. He winced but didn’t scream.

“It feels nice, doesn’t it? The cold. Even though your skin is healed, it still _stings_ doesn’t it? It’ll last for a few days, but it’ll fade, I promise.” Tsumiki whispered her words. Under the intense silence of the hospital room, everyone there could hear her clearly.

She drew the knife back. Slowly, she placed the items she was holding into her pockets and stood up.

“Are you… giving up?” Endeavour asked hopefully. Tsumiki didn’t answer and turned away, taking the needle out of Todoroki’s arm.

“If you come quietly-“

“No.” Tsumiki uttered a single word that silenced them both. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, I suppose. And I certainly will.” She looked up at Endeavour. “I’ll be taking my leave now. You can take your son and hurry back to the Future Foundation. And take Theano with you while you’re at it. Ultimate Despair has no need for weak-willed little rodents.”

“I… don’t understand.” Endeavour admitted as he took a tentative step forward. When he realized that Tsumiki wasn’t about to stop him, he continued to approach. “Why are you talking as if we’ll be letting you go? You just gave up your hostage.”

Tsumiki frowned, looked down at Todoroki, then smiled once more. There was no malice in this smile, no taunting. It was a warm, kind, caring smile that befit the Ultimate Nurse. She smiled as she pulled out a remote from her pockets, and she smiled as she pressed the single button that was on it. She continued smiling as Todoroki’s quirk, both Fire and Ice, burst from his sides like a burst dam.

Tsumiki was standing to the left of him, so her half of the room rose by several degrees. Endeavour and the exit were situated to his right, and they experienced a chilling breeze that threatened to freeze their very souls.

Todoroki, who was in the middle of it all, screamed.

“Th-this is…” Endeavour understood what was going on, for when Tsumiki pressed the button on her remote, a light lit up on Todoroki’s wrist. He had been wearing a bracelet, the same one that Endeavour had and was wearing right now. When Tsumiki pressed the button, a series of tiny needles came out from the inside of the bracelet and jammed themselves into Todoroki’s wrist.

“This is Trigger Mark II!”

“Actually!” Tsumiki shouted. She had to shout in order to be heard over the sounds of Todoroki screaming his lungs out. “This is Trigger Mark III!”

“W-what?! Mark III?” Endeavour could not help but find himself repeating the words. “But that means…”

“Trigger Mark II was a drug that boosted your quirk up to its very limits.” Tsumiki reminded him. “Right up to the point where your body couldn’t handle it anymore.”

“…” Endeavour scowled. He knew where the nurse was going with this and he didn’t like it.

“Trigger Mark III is different. Trigger Mark III pushes your quirk far past that. Allowing you to become even stronger! For a few minutes.” Tsumiki examined Todoroki carefully. “I think I’ll give him… six minutes before he dies of quirk exhaustion. You’d better hurry.”

Todoroki’s eyes widened in a panic. He continued to scream, even now. The sheer amount of Fire and Ice that his body was emitting was causing him physical pain. The bed he was laying on burnt and froze, and half of it crumbled it into nothingness, causing him to fall on his side.

“What’s wrong?” Tsumiki asked Endeavour, who hadn’t moved an inch from where he was standing. “Aren’t you going to help your son?”

“How do I know?” Endeavour asked. “How do I know you’re not just bluffing? How do I know that isn’t just Trigger Mark II that was injected into him?”

Tsumiki frowned and tilted her head in confusion. “That’s a good question, I suppose. But isn’t the point of a bluff that the other side don’t know if it’s a bluff or not?” she shook her head. “I’m afraid you’ll just have to choose. Me or your son. But, if I’m being honest, are you sure you’re not going to save him? I mean, that’s what heroes _do_ , isn’t it? They save people.”

“Don’t listen… don’t listen to her…” Todoroki cried out from his awkward pose on the floor. “I’ll be fine…. Arrest Tsumiki…! Graaah…!”

Endeavour scowled and glared at Tsumiki, who simply smiled as Endeavour went to pick up his son.

He ran out of the room, picking up Theano who really should’ve ran away while they had all been talking. No doubt he wanted to complain about being held so close to the malfunctioning Todoroki. But he will just have to deal with that, unfortunately. They needed him to guide them out of the facility.

Of course, Tsumiki knew how to get out too. But Endeavour didn’t request her help. They had only been talking for a few minutes and Endeavour had already surmised she wasn’t the type to buckle under the threat of violence, unlike Theano. Poor, gutless Theano. Silently, Tsumiki wished him luck as he was dragged mercilessly all the way to the Future Foundation.

* * *

Endeavour was flying through the sky while cradling Todoroki close to his chest. Todoroki’s quirk was still going haywire, and he couldn’t risk it affecting the city below. Theano was held under Endeavour’s armpit, struggling desperately while begging not to let him fall.

Todoroki didn’t really understand what was going on. After he was injected, Endeavour and Tsumiki had mentioned something about Trigger Mark II or III. Now he had completely lost control of his quirk.

He glanced at Endeavour while he was being carried. He was holding Todoroki’s left side towards his body to take full advantage of Endeavour’s resistance to heat. But that only allowed for so much leeway. In order to hold Todoroki as he did, Endeavour’s arms and hands would be subjected to Todoroki’s right side.

Sure, Endeavour could use his own Fire to counteract his own flash freezing ability. But with how his quirk almost seemed to be _tearing_ his body open, he doubted that Endeavour’s power output could match his own.

Todoroki turned his head slightly and noticed Endeavour’s face. He didn’t seem to mind the pain, if there even was any. Endeavour faced forwards as he flew, a visage of pure strength and determination.

 _Was this the resolve of the number one hero of Japan?_ Thought Todoroki. _Or is it something different…?_

Todoroki had no chance to finish that thought as pain suddenly twisted him. His quirk surged, and a burst of Fire and Ice escaped his body. Theano yelled something incoherent but neither Todoroki nor his father paid him any mind.

Endeavour tightened his grip, holding him even closer. “We’re almost there.” He said simply.

Not saying a word, Todoroki pressed his head closer into Endeavour’s chest. Despite all the Fire he was producing, it still felt warm.

He didn’t quite understand why, in this life or death situation, but for some odd reason, Todoroki felt a warmth in his heart.

* * *

Aizawa sat calmly at his desk, a row of walkie-talkies lined up in front of him. He was one of the commanders in charge of the operation, and it was his duty to oversee the team that had been assigned to him.

He glanced out through a window and sighed. The sounds of fighting had all stopped here. The heroes were making their way deeper into the city, flushing Ultimate Despair out as if they were cleansing a poison.

A tiny part of Aizawa nagged at him, telling him he should be out there, fighting on the frontlines with everyone. He didn’t like sitting back and leaving the work to others. He wanted to go out there, get his hands dirty.

But that was the job he signed up for. As a chairman in the Future Foundation’s upper ranks, he had different responsibilities than most of the others. Responsibilities that required him to stay behind and sit around in a temporary base.

There were times where he wondered if he made the right choice in listening to All-Might. Then there were times-

“All clear on this floor. Now proceeding to the next.” Aizawa snapped out of his thoughts as Endeavour’s voice came through on one of the devices. Aizawa reached for it and pressed the talk button.

“Go ahead. Make sure you check for any secret passage-“

Aizawa was interrupted by his window shattering into a million different pieces. Aizawa blinked and immediately readied his capture tool and activated his quirk on the jumbled mass of bodies that came in through his window. The assortment of orange and blue that had came with them vanished and was replaced with three bodies sprawled out on his floor.

As if playing catch up, the information that was sent to his mind from his eyes was finally processed. It had been Endeavour, Todoroki, and a stranger that had crashed into his temporary office, with Todoroki’s quirk going crazy.

Keeping his quirk trained on the newcomers, it took Aizawa half a second to notice the inconsistencies with the events that have been unfolding. Without taking his eyes off them, Aizawa’s focus went to the radio.

Endeavour’s voice came through, clear as can be. “Hey, Eraser? You there? Do you copy?”

Angrily, Aizawa pressed down the button. “Ultimate Despair…” He started. “I don’t know for how long you’ve been tricking me. But it ends now.”

After a brief moment, the silence was broken by an evil, chuckling voice. “So, they managed to escape, did they?” The mysterious stranger on the other end was still using Endeavour’s voice, as if to mock him. “No matter. One minor setback won’t change anything.”

The voice went silent and Aizawa turned the device off. Setting it on the table, he watched as Endeavour, Todoroki, and a bearded third individual that groaned on the floor.

“Endeavour, Todoroki… what happened out there?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that ends the meeting with Mikan Tsumiki. We didn't get too much with Tsumiki in this chapter, huh? That was one of my regrets. 
> 
> Previously, Endeavour was supposed to have more fights in this chapter. But it was getting kinda long already and so I cut them down a little. You can probably tell which ones were reduced.
> 
> Ah, poor Todoroki. He probably didn’t have a lot of fun in this raid.
> 
> Next chapter: We interrogate Theano and see how Todoroki’s doing


	18. Chapter 18

“Oh, hey Deku.” Midoriya looked up as he finished writing his name on the sheet of paper hanging outside of Kizakura’s office. “Are you signing up too?”

“Yeah, I am.” Midoriya replied happily. He moved out of the way for Uraraka to write her own name on the sheet. Secretly, he was glad that someone he knew had also decided to go. He hadn’t recognized any of the other names on the paper. He supposed it didn’t matter much, those other names probably belonged to upper year students or small-time heroes he hadn’t met before, but it still felt nice that someone he knew was going to be volunteering alongside him.

Uraraka looked up and sighed. “It’s stuff like this that really puts the whole fight against Ultimate Despair into perspective. Yesterday felt like such a big victory. But in reality, we were only scratching the surface of what needs to be done.”

“Well, a hero’s work is never finished, right?” Midoriya smiled sadly. “Besides, these people need us. Well, maybe not _us_ specifically. But this is still an important step in spreading hope and ridding the world of despair.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Uraraka nodded, agreeing with her friend’s words. “And it’ll probably be a good way to calm down after how eventful yesterday was.”

“Mmm.” Midoriya tapped his chin with a wistful expression. “I’m pretty happy though. The fact that we were able to retake one of the cities that Ultimate Despair had been occupying up until now is still a pretty big accomplishment. Little by little, hope is going to triumph over despair.”

“That’s right!” Uraraka said with renewed vigour. She pumped her fist up into the air in excitement. “So let’s show those survivors what we’re made of! We’ll spread so much hope that despair won’t even _think_ to come back!”

“Um…” Midoriya took a step back at Uraraka’s enthusiasm. “All we’re really doing is handing out supplies to the people that once lived under Ultimate Despair. Stuff like food, water, and blankets.”

“And we’ll do it with gusto!” Uraraka declared.

“Right.” Midoriya chuckled. “Just you and me and um…” Midoriya’s thoughts tapered off. He and Uraraka stared at one another and their faces began to redden as they both imagined the prospect of being together for an entire day.

They wouldn’t exactly be alone… there will be many other volunteers there in the recaptured city handing out supplies alongside them. But they were the only ones there that knew one another… and it’s possible that they’d be stationed next to each other too…

“U-um…” It was Uraraka who broke the tense silence first. “So how was yesterday? I mean, I didn’t see you at all when we were working. I mean, not that I wanted to see you or anything. I mean! Not that I _didn’t_ want to either…”

“R-right! Yesterday!” Midoriya rubbed the back of his head while trying to calm himself down. “I um… It was me, Yaoyorozu, and Sero together in a group. We were fighting Ultimate Despair near the north of the town. It was pretty intense. I uh, got cut up a bit by a villain who could shoot out small, leaf-like projectiles.”

“Ooh, ouch.” Uraraka winced. “I was with Present Mic and Ashido. He was really loud, but… I did sort of feel like there was a big disparity between an actual pro hero and us students. I mean… he was able to take down almost every Ultimate Despair we encountered, we barely even did anything at all to support him.”

“Yeah… I mean, we’re only first year students. It’s pretty much expected that we won’t be as strong as pro heroes that have been fighting for so long.”

“Oh, come on. I think we’re closer to second year students around this point, no? At least, we would be if school had continued like normal.” Uraraka reminded him cheerfully.

Midoriya sighed. “Yeah, I guess. Though, I’m glad no one got seriously injured in the end. It wasn’t like the raid on the Eight Precepts back during our internships. Though, there was still…”

“Oh yeah. Todoroki.” Uraraka nodded wistfully. “He’s still recovering, right?”

“Yeah. Apparently, when Ultimate Despair caught him, they injected him with some kind of poison? I’m a little fuzzy on the details. Recovery Girl’s quirk doesn’t heal poisons, or at least, I don’t think it can. So they’re keeping him under surveillance for now.”

“That sounds really rough.” Uraraka lamented. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have been captured by Ultimate Despair like that. Do we know if Todoroki’s alright? Will he be allowed to go on raids in the future? Even if he can’t, maybe he can help us hand out supplies.”

“I’m not sure.” Midoriya frowned. “I was thinking of heading over to the medical area to check up on him. If people are even allowed to visit right now. Do you want to come with?”

“Sure!”

It was the day after the operation on Ultimate Despair’s stronghold. Overall, the raid had been a complete success, with only one serious injury and the rest minorly wounded. However, the Future Foundation didn’t stop there. The city had been liberated, but more work still needed to be done so that the people that lived there could go back to their daily lives before the Tragedy.

With the awkwardness from before quickly subsiding, Midoriya and Uraraka began to make their way to the medical wing of the Future Foundation building.

“When do you think the next big attack will be?” Uraraka wondered aloud. “They said that they needed to make sure everything was okay in the place we just liberated. So I’m thinking maybe a week or two?”

“Hmm.” Midoriya thought about the question. “I heard some rumours that Munakata was pushing Tengan and All-Might to start the next attack right away. But I don’t think those two are going to agree with him.”

“I guess it does make sense to go before the rest of Ultimate Despair has time to strategize or launch a counterattack.” Uraraka agreed. “But the Future Foundation needs its rest too. I wonder why Munakata is so gung-ho on this?”

“Mmm, I know it’s just a rumour but… I heard that Munakata was aiming for the Millennium Tower with these attacks.” Midoriya commented. “At least, that’s the end goal.”

“Whoa, really? That tower?” Uraraka was shocked. “But that’s… that’s actually pretty far away. Is Munakata really planning that far into the future?”

“It makes sense though, doesn’t it? The Millennium Tower is pretty much Ultimate Despair’s largest stronghold. If the Future Foundation can topple it then we can say that Ultimate Despair is all but finished.” Midoriya voiced his thoughts, then shrugged. “But it’s all just a rumour anyway. I haven’t heard anything about from him directly.”

“Yeah, and you know how unreliable some of those rumours that get spread around can be.” Uraraka agreed. “Did you hear that some of the survivors in the town are claiming that All-Might came to see them? I mean, it sounded like something he’d do, but All-Might himself was confused when we asked him about it. He said he was swamped with paperwork and never went there. Only a few people claimed they saw All-Might though, so the others are calling them delusional.”

“Ah, yeah. I’ve heard of that.” Midoriya said. “You know, I heard that when Endeavour escaped that-“

“Midoriya! Uraraka! It’s good to see the both of you. Have you also come to visit Todoroki?” Midoriya was interrupted by a sudden greeting. Looking up, they saw Iida standing outside of Todoroki’s hospital room, holding a single banana.

“Oh, hey Iida.” Uraraka greeted. “What’s with the banana?”

Iida noticed the pair’s stares and quickly became embarrassed. “I would’ve prepared more but this was all the agricultural department could spare unfortunately. I understand that times are tough right now so they couldn’t spare much. I hope that Todoroki will be satisfied with this.”

Midoriya smiled at the thoughtfulness of his friend. “I’m sure he’ll be very happy.” He reassured.

Together, they knocked on the door and entered the hospital room.

* * *

Todoroki was lying there on his hospital bed with absolutely nothing to do. There was no television there for him to watch. Even if there was one, he doubted there would be anything interesting being broadcast right now anyway.

There was a magazine lying on the nightstand beside him, but he didn’t pay it any attention. Magazines all over the world have long since stopped production. That particular magazine was over several months old. Todoroki had read it over, front to back, at least five times now.

The beautiful face of Junko Enoshima stared out at him from the cover and for the umpteenth time that day, Todoroki found his thoughts drifting towards the 78th class of Hope’s Peak Academy.

He wondered what their lives were like now that they’ve sealed themselves inside of their own school like that. They completely cut themselves off from any sort of outside communication which meant they had no way of finding out for themselves. He supposed that in situations like that, being trapped with the same seventeen people for such a disturbingly long period of time would be close to unbearable.

He wondered if they might start killing each other at one point.

Todoroki shook his head and pushed those morbid thoughts out of his mind. There was no use speculating anyway, so he chose not to.

Needless to say, Todoroki was bored.

Todoroki was not unfamiliar with long hospital visits. When he was younger, an incident occurred that rendered him hospital bound for quite some time. He was bored then too, but at that time, he had found that being bored was much preferable to the alternative.

He was much younger then, too young to understand the important issues that were being brought up on whatever news channels the televisions were broadcasting. Too young and too impatient to sit still and read through the newspapers that were lying around.

Plus, with the bandage covering up one of his eyes, he wasn’t particularly interested in reading or watching TV.

The one thing that helped to relieve him of his boredom were the visits from his older siblings. Both Fuyumi and Natsuo were able to find time off of their busy schedules to come see him. He appreciated that, even if they could only stay for a few minutes at a time.

He didn’t like it as much when Endeavour was the one visiting. He was only ever there to glare angrily at him and remind him that their training still wasn’t finished and that it will be even more brutal after he was discharged.

His mother didn’t visit, of course.

Todoroki drifted away from his childhood memories, and a melancholic feeling ached in his heart as he compared the Endeavour from his childhood to the Endeavour that was fighting by his side yesterday.

He had been saved by him. He was at Tsumiki’s mercy and was saved by the man he hated the most in the world. He told him not to worry about him as his quirk torn his body apart from the inside and to go after Tsumiki instead, but he didn’t. Then, Endeavour carried him all the way from the facility back to their temporary base, just on the outskirts of town.

Todoroki shifted underneath the blanket. The pessimistic side was telling him that was what heroes were supposed to do. They prioritized saving lives over capturing villains. But the softer, more emotional side of his mind differed. Todoroki didn’t understand it perfectly, but he had felt safe while they were flying. Despite how painful the Trigger Mark III was and how much his own quirk struggled against his own control, he didn’t feel like he was in danger.

They crashed through a window and got to Aizawa, he Erased his malfunctioning quirk and he promptly passed out. Awaking in a hospital bed many hours later, with Recovery Girl telling him what happened to his body while simultaneously shooing out a Future Foundation operative that was trying to tell him that they had won.

Todoroki thought back to what Tsumiki had said. He had gone too far with his words and gave Tsumiki the perfect foothold to stage a verbal counterattack. Todoroki found himself unable to say out loud that he forgave Endeavour even despite it being a life or death situation. Even despite the fact that there were only two people in that room.

“I… I…” Todoroki frowned. What he had said wasn’t wrong. Whatever mastermind had been behind Ultimate Despair was only using Tsumiki’s feelings of self-pity against her. Despite that, Tsumiki herself had made a salient point. It _was_ difficult to say that you forgave someone when you didn’t want to, not even in the slightest.

“I… I forgive-“

A knock sounded at the door and Todoroki almost bit his tongue. He glanced towards the opening door with a sharp turn and sighed with relief when he saw his friends.

It was Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka, and it seemed that they were here to visit him. Todoroki smiled and found his eyes drifting towards something that Iida was holding in his hands.

The image flashed in his mind and suddenly Todoroki lost himself. He was no longer safe in the Future Foundation hospital being visited by his friends. He was back in Ultimate Despair’s underground facility, limbs bound and with his quirk suppressed, Tsumiki looming above him.

He could see the banana sink into own limbs, he could feel his skin peeling off, revealing the secret layer of pink flesh underneath. He felt the most pain he had ever felt in his entire life all over again and only kept on feeling it while he drifted further and further away from reality.

Todoroki felt his own quirk laying just out of reach, suppressed by the injection that- wait, no. There it was. He could use his quirk.

Todoroki felt the familiar feeling in his body as Fire and Ice shot out of his body. He heard muted screams but paid them no mind as Todoroki focused on this comforting feeling. He wasn’t powerless, he wasn’t bound, and the skin on his limbs weren’t being peeled by a sadistic villain.

He was safe.

“-roki the bed’s on fire! The bed’s on fire! Todoroki get a hold of yourself!”

Huh?

* * *

SLAM!

Sakakura’s hands came down onto the wooden table, causing both it and Theano to jump.

“I-I really don’t know what you want from-“

“Don’t fucking screw with me!” Another slam. Another jump. “What the fuck do you think we want?! Information on Ultimate Despair! So tell us what you know!”

Theano attempted to cower in his chair. His arms were cuffed to the table so he couldn’t use them to defend his face. Every time he tried to, the links tugged at his wrists and left a soft, red mark.

“I really don’t know anything… honest…” Theano repeated what he had told Sakakura many times before. Instead of backing down, Sakakura grabbed his shirt by the collar, threatening to throttle him.

“Y-y-y-you! You can’t… you can’t do anything to me here.” Theano whimpered. “I’m a prisoner…!”

“Tch!” Sakakura clicked his tongue and smiled deviously at him. “What is with all these prisoners saying the same goddamn thing?”

“Um…”

“My guess is they’ve been too used to what life was like _before_ the Tragedy. They watched too many American cop dramas or something. They seem to think the same rules still apply to them now.”

“W-what are you…?”

“But the sad truth is that no one will even give half a damn if one of you ‘goes missing’. The same goes for if you happen to ‘trip’ on the way back to your cell. Do you understand why? Because there is no one to complain to. There is no court, no judge, no jury, no higher power to go to to see that all of you scum are being treated fairly.”

Sakakura grabbed the back of Theano’s head with a fist and held it in place. Theano struggled but Sakakura didn’t relinquish his vice-like grip.

“So why don’t you make it easy for all of us and just tell me what I want to know.”

He slowly raised Theano’s head above the table, letting him hover for a few seconds, before putting all his strength into his arm, bringing it down with all the power that the Ultimate Boxer could muster.

Theano closed his eyes and braced for an impact that never came. Tentatively, he opened his eyes and found himself staring directly at the edge of the table, his nose was mere millimetres away from colliding with it.

Sakakura grunted and let go of his head. Nervously, Theano lifted his head up and found the boxer staring angrily at the door. Turning, Theano saw the figure of his shining hero. His golden saviour. He was deathly thin and almost skeletal, but in this moment, he was his hero.

“Sakakura.” Greeted All-Might, and this was all he said. Sakakura didn’t respond and the two of them simply stared at one another. This went on for a tense couple of seconds as Theano fought down the urge to cough.

Finally, Sakakura spoke. “All-Might. What are you doing here.” He growled.

“I was checking up on the interrogations. I seem to have come just at the right moment.” All-Might gestured to Theano with his hand.

“Don’t you have more important work that needs to be done?”

“Believe me, I see nothing more important than being here right now.”

Their back and forth tapered off and returned to a simple staring contest.

“Why don’t you take a break, Sakakura?” All-Might suggested without a smile. “I do have experience in interrogating crooks, you know. Far more than you, I imagine.”

“Hmph!” Sakakura grunted and stood up. As they passed one another, Sakakura bumped All-Might’s shoulder with great force and continued onwards like nothing happened. All-Might stumbled for a second but caught his footing. He simply stared at him unflinchingly and waited until Sakakura shut the door behind him to sit down.

He looked directly at Theano, his tense face relaxing as a friendly smile crept onto its features.

“I apologize for that.” All-Might chuckled. “You weren’t hurt too-“

“My hero!” Theano shouted suddenly, spooking All-Might so much that he jumped. Theano didn’t notice as he was busy looking back at the door Sakakura left in. “You were always my favourite, you know that? Ever since your first appearance, when you saved those people in that burning city, I had been a fan.”

“O-oh!” All-Might’s eyebrows shot up. “I uh, th-thank you, I suppose… I’ve never had a villain tell me that before. Not a full one, at least.”

“Really, I’m such a huge fan. I-I _cried_ when I saw your battle against All for One. I couldn’t believe what had happened, I could hardly focus on my research. I didn’t sleep right for _days_.”

At Theano’s mention, All-Might cleared his throat loudly. “Ahem! Yes… speaking of that research, I believe we’ve gotten a bit distracted here. Why don’t we get back on the topic at hand. That is to say, your interrogation.”

“Ah, but of course!” Theano nodded vehemently. “Now that that oafish brute is gone…” Theano peeked at the door. “I’ll answer any questions you have.”

“Hm.” All-Might adjusted his tie and sat up a bit straighter. He smiled brightly. “Wonderful. Well, let’s start with bringing me up to speed. What have you already told Sakakura?”

“Oh, just… y’know…” Theano attempted to gesture vaguely despite his hands being shackled. “My involvement with Ultimate Despair, the research that I did, the experiments that I’ve run, people I’ve killed, that sort of thing.”

All-Might was stunned for a second then blinked. “Ah, yes. Of course. And… what did you tell him?”

“Well, as you may have already guessed, Ultimate Despair’s entire research and development unit was located in that town. I’ve been told that it was conquered in its entirety, so that’s all my hard work down the drain. Ah well, maybe someone managed to escape with a few samples of something.”

“I find that highly unlikely.” All-Might frowned. “We completely destroyed all of despair’s strongholds, as well as their research.”

“Oh.” Theano shrugged. “Well that’s disappointing.”

“I imagine it is.” All-Might nodded. “What about before? Before you joined up with Ultimate Despair?”

“Before? Ah, well…” Theano let loose a long exhale as he slumped in his seat. “Before that I was just another researcher at the local university. Running tests, yelling at students, begging for the measly scraps they call grants. It was a boring life, I suppose, but it was still… life. It was normal for me. Some days I felt like I was at the top of the world, and some days I felt like I was stuck in a rut, just living out the same motions day by day until the moment I’d drop dead.

Then, the Tragedy struck.

It was only then that I started to _miss_ the rut and-“

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on for a moment.” All-Might interrupted. “Are you saying that you joined Ultimate Despair _after_ the Tragedy?”

Theano looked confused.” Well, of _course_. All of us- I mean… after all, I uh… that is to say…” Trailing off, Theano looked away from All-Might, as if he was hiding something.

“Theano?” All-Might tilted his head. “Is something the matter? What did you mean when you said ‘of course’ you joined Ultimate Despair after the Tragedy?”

Theano paled. He stared at All-Might and the hero stared back. The dark, sunken pits of All-Might’s eyes burning a hole into the researcher. He attempted to disguise his nervousness with a sudden coughing fit.

“It’s… not anything. Nothing at all. Now, do you mind if I continued my story? So there I was, stuck in the ruined remains of what once was my laboratory, when I saw a nurse-“

“Theano.” All-Might cut in forcefully, his words carrying the weight of a hundred men. “Back when I first arrived, Sakakura was threatening you to tell him something. What exactly did he think you knew?”

Theano gulped. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Sweat rolled down his face and dripped down from his face. His eyes darted left and right, as if he was checking for ways to escape.

“Theano…”

“He’s mistaken!” Theano declared. “Of course he is. I don’t know anything! I mean, what _could_ I know, right? I know exactly why he _thinks_ I know something, though. You know? It’s those other guys.” Theano shiftily looked around, as if checking to see if they were being listened in on.

“I wasn’t the only Ultimate Despair you captured, was I? Hah! I thought not. Those other guys, no loyalty, the lot of them. They’ll throw anyone under the bus just to save their own hides. That’s the kind of people they are. I know because that’s the kind of person I am.”

All-Might stayed silent, staring at Theano as he raved.

“So they pointed fingers at me, did they? All jealousy, even after we’ve been captured. They’re all jealous of me. My talent, my dedication, my _position_. They _think_ I’m close with that nurse girl and they _know_ she’s close with the rest of the Originals.”

All-Might’s eyes widened, but he remained silent.

“Oh yes, they think they’re _so_ much better than the rest of us. They were a part of Ultimate Despair before the Tragedy, all fourteen of them. Pfft, as if _that’s_ anything to be bragging about. And they’re the only ones who’ve met with Ultimate Despair’s secretive leader. The nurse’s so-called _beloved_.”

All-Might sat forward at this. “Are you saying that you’ve never actually met with the mastermind? No one in Ultimate Despair has except for these… Originals?”

“Well of course, I mean I… uh…” Theano trailed off as he realized what he had just said. His eyes widened and he began to panic. “I… no, no this isn’t good. Not good… no, no, no…”

“Theano, please calm down!” All-Might reached out. “It’s okay, you’re not in danger. The Future Foundation will protect you from… whatever it is you’re worried about.”

“No, you don’t understand… I’m the only person who even knows about this.” Theano whimpered. “Because of my _position_ in Tsumiki’s forces. I was her… well, _assistant_ _technically._ And she talked to me a lot, you know? Bragging mostly. Talking about how _devoted_ she is to Ultimate Despair and her beloved. It just went on and on. You understand, don’t you, All-Might? You just start to tune it out at some point and-“

“Theano.” All-Might raised a bony hand and interrupted the man as he started to get off topic. “What else did Tsumiki tell you while you were working under her?”

“Just _boring, useless_ things mostly. How much she loves the leader, how she wants to be forgiven or something. Ugh. Let me tell you something. Those O _riginals_ I mentioned. They’re all completely cuckoo. Every last one of them. I suppose it explains why they’re such fervent supporters.”

“The other members of Ultimate Despair do seem quite a bit more subdued…” All-Might agreed then looked up. “Wait, have you met with the others? The other Originals?”

Theano looked guilty. “Oh… well, no. I haven’t met them _personally_. Tsumiki told me about them. About how they get their kicks with despair. Starving themselves, hurting themselves or the people they love, something about _talents_ or other…”

“Hope’s Peak Academy.” All-Might muttered. “So it’s true then.”

“Hm?” Theano looked up.

“Oh. It’s nothing.” All-Might dismissed. “Continue.”

“Er, right well… it’s not as if some of the other despairs didn’t do similar things. Like, the whole red eyes thing? Really freaky, but immensely curious.” Theano said. “I mean, eye colour changing because of your state of mind? It’s entirely unheard of. And that’s not even mentioning the improvements to their strength and agility.”

“Ah, yes…” All-Might nodded. “So you’ve been researching this phenomenon as well? Have you found a cure for it?”

“A _cure_?” Theano’s eyes threatened to pop out of his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, All-Might. No offense, of course. But who in Ultimate Despair do you think would _want_ to be cured of such a condition? They wear it like a badge of honour. A horrible, unhealthy, debilitating badge of honour.”

“Hmm.” All-Might pondered this for a moment, then asked another question. “But theoretically, this change isn’t permanent, right? These people can exit this state of despair and go back to being normal people.”

“Well, yes. I suppose that’s theoretically possible.” Theano thought about this for a moment before deciding on an answer. “But why would you go through all that effort?”

“Just… just curious, I suppose.” As he said this, All-Might stood up. He smiled at Theano. “Thank you, you’ve been very helpful.”

“Um, where are you going?” Theano’s voice was panicked and was raised just a sliver higher than normal. “Aren’t you going to escort me back to my cell?”

“Oh no.” Said All-Might breezily. “That’s Sakakura’s job.”

Theano suddenly paled. “Wait, you’re leaving me alone with that _monster_? What happened to protecting me? What, now that I’ve told you everything you want to know, suddenly you’re okay with throwing me back into the lion pit? All-Might, please, I’m begging you here. Don’t-“

“Oh, don’t be like that.” All-Might said cheerfully. “Sakakura’s great. You just need a little time to warm up to him, that’s all.”

Ignoring Theano’s pleas, All-Might left the interrogation room and shut the door behind him. Turning to his left, he saw Juzo Sakakura, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall directly opposite of the one-way mirror. He ignored All-Might and was watching Theano’s panic with an unreadable expression.

“That went pretty well.” All-Might continued to grin as he called out to Sakakura. He gave no response. “The whole good cop/bad cop routine worked perfectly.”

“Hmph.” Sakakura grunted. That was all the evidence he gave that he heard All-Might’s words.

“Perhaps a little too well.” All-Might said as he went and stood by Sakakura’s side. They watched Theano freaking out inside of the interrogation room. A twinge of pity formed in All-Might’s chest. “He seems pretty scared of you now. Are you sure you didn’t go too far?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Sakakura responded. He smirked. “Did you know he was a fan of yours when you arrived to save him?”

All-Might bristled and fought to keep the embarrassment down. “Er well, yes… back in the day, there used to be a handful of people that would commit petty crimes just so they can meet with me. Needless to say, it was quite exasperating. There were never… for lack of a better term, _professional_ villains who’ve admitted to being my fan.”

“The problem with fame, huh?”

“Quite so.” All-Might nodded, then looked quizzically at Sakakura. “Before I arrived here, you weren’t actually going to hit him, were you?”

Sakakura scoffed. “Do I look like the kind of person to go around beating up prisoners?”

“Um…”

“Obviously not.”

“…Right.” All-Might stared at Sakakura for a few seconds longer before averting his gaze. “In any case, we were finally able to confirm it. Ultimate Despair really did originate from Hope’s Peak Academy.”

Sakakura tensed as All-Might said this. His face twisted into a deep scowl. All-Might, sensing his anger, attempted to placate him.

“You don’t have to feel so bad about it.” All-Might said. “I know that you might feel responsible for not detecting it, especially since you were with Munakata investigating the school directly, but really-“

“Damn it!” Sakakura yelled, interrupting All-Might’s words. He turned around and began to punch the metal wall, forcefully. All-Might was so shocked at this that he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Meanwhile, Sakakura had bloodied his knuckle from his repeated attacks, not even leaving a dent in the space he punched.

“Sakakura, please calm down!” All-Might said as he wiped his chin with a handkerchief. “Please, you mustn’t blame yourself for this.”

Sakakura’s fist froze as he struck the wall. Looking down with a pained expression, Sakakura spoke. “You don’t understand…”

‘No, I suppose I don’t.” All-Might admitted. “But if you want to talk about it, I’ll be there to listen. We can’t change the past, so for now, how about just working towards the future instead? After all, we are the _Future_ Foundation.” All-Might grinned at his joke, but Sakakura’s expression remained just as sordid as before.

“Graaaah!” Sakakura yelled and punched the wall once more with all of his might, this time making a weak imprint in the metal. Turning around with a huff, Sakakura went towards the door to the interrogation room.

All-Might watched Sakakura walk away with widened eyes. His gaze went down to Sakakura’s arm, which was covered in his own blood and was dripping onto the floor of the hallway.

“W-wait!” All-Might called out, extending his handkerchief and offering it to the boxer but he paid it no mind. Instead, Sakakura stepped into the room and left the door wide open.

“Oh my _GOD_!” Theano’s voice came out just a few seconds later causing All-Might to wince, shake his head, and quickly walk away.

* * *

“That’s- that’s terrible!” Uraraka cried out. Todoroki had just finished explaining Tsumiki’s quirk. He described the various ways she used her Fusion to torture him. From the jar, to the transparent pane, to the banana that was placed into his arms. The three of them now understood perfectly why Todoroki reacted the way he did.

“I-I sincerely apologize!” Iida bowed deeply and looked incredibly distraught. “I didn’t realize that a single banana would cause you so much distress.”

“No, it’s fine. You couldn’t have known.” Todoroki said softly. He looked away. “I didn’t expect it either.”

“But you’re alright now, right?” Uraraka asked, clearly worried for her friend. “I mean, we could get you new pillows and a new blanket if you want…”

“Ah, no. That’s fine.” Todoroki assured them. While he had been feeling disoriented, Todoroki had brought forth his quirk in order to calm down. That had the unfortunate side-effect of setting fire to one half of the bed and freezing the other.

“Thankfully, Endeavour showed up when he did.” Todoroki continued with his tale, ignoring the damage that had been done to his bed. “I don’t know what would have happened if I was left there for longer. I can’t imagine it would’ve been very pleasant. Though, it was clear that Tsumiki was expecting something to happen.”

“What makes you say that?” Iida asked.

“She put a bracelet on me while I was unconscious.” Todoroki raised his wrist, which was now empty. “It was designed to inject a drug into me. Apparently, Endeavour had one on him as well.”

“Yeah, we heard. It was some sort of poison, right?” Uraraka asked.

Todoroki shook his head. “Not quite. It was Trigger.”

“Trigger?”

“A new strain of Trigger apparently.” Todoroki explained. “One that pushes your quirk’s power so much that your body dies of exhaustion. It forced Endeavour to choose between going after her or saving me. That’s why Endeavour took me back to Aizawa. He was the only that could save me.”

“Ah, because of his Erasure quirk.”

“That’s right.” Todoroki nodded. “And that’s why they’re keeping me in here for the time being. They want to be sure that this Trigger Mark III didn’t have some sort of permanent damage on my body.”

“I see. So it’s likely you’ll be out of commission for quite some time.” Iida summarized.

“Yeah. I probably won’t be doing any fighting for the time being. I’ve also got a few sessions with Gekkogahara to make sure I’m okay.”

“Oh, I love Gekkogahara. Usami’s so cute!”

“Yes, well…” Todoroki turned his head from where he was lying. “Midoriya, are you alright? You haven’t said anything for quite some time.”

“Huh? Oh…” Midoriya looked like he was snapped out of a reverie. “I was just thinking about what you said…”

“What part?”

“Tsumiki’s quirk.” Midoriya admitted with a slight blush to his face. “It sounded really interesting. Being able to Fuse things together, it sounds like there are a lot of possibilities with it.”

The others laughed at that and Midoriya grew even pinker.

“Aw, that’s so like you, Deku!”

“I just… sorry, I got a little distracted by it while you were talking.” Midoriya apologized.

“Hah. Don’t worry about it.” Todoroki waved his hand. “I will admit, it _is_ a fairly interesting ability. Even if it was being used to hurt me.”

“Right, but I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now.” Midoriya said. “It feels wrong.”

“Hm.” Todoroki pursed his lips. “I suppose you’re right. In the end, that’s just Ultimate Despair. They’re an evil that needs to be stopped by any means necessary.”

“That’s right!” Uraraka agreed. “We’ll destroy Ultimate Despair and bring peace back to the world.”

“Of course.” Iida nodded as well. “We shall purge Ultimate Despair in its entirety so that only hope will remain.”

As his friends were declaring their intentions, Midoriya stayed oddly silent. Though he wanted to announce his agreement with their words, there was something inside of him, a small doubt, that compelled him not to speak.

Quietly, Midoriya shook this feeling away and simply smiled at his friends. They were going to stop despair, he knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of good cop/bad cop. And who better to play those roles than Sakakura and All-Might. Don’t think Sakakura wants to tell you what happened that he’s so angry about, but points to you for trying, All-Might.
> 
> Is it any wonder that Todoroki’s a bit traumatized after what happened to him? Wonder how this will affect him going forward?
> 
> I forgot to mention this last chapter, but Tsumiki’s quirk is a reference to part 8 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: JoJolion. Those of you who have read through it will understand what I'm talking about.
> 
> Soooo, have you figured out which Remnant will be appearing in the next chapter? I feel like I’ve laid down enough hints in this and the last chapter for you to make an accurate guess.
> 
> Next chapter: Volunteer work


	19. Chapter 19

“Hey, over here!”

“Please, my child-“

“Stop shoving me! Wait your damn turn!”

“I’ve been waiting-“

“Give it to me first!”

“Everyone shut the fuck up!” Bakugou’s exclamation was accompanied by the sound of Explosions directed upwards. He had one foot on the chair and one foot on the table as he addressed the ravenous flock below.

Almost instinctively, the people that were gathered there shrank back and ceased their shouting and jabbing at one another while staring at Bakugou in fear. It was clear they were still suffering from the aftereffects of living under Ultimate Despair’s rule. Their reaction to the noise was one of pure terror. Several parents clutched at their children in desperation, hiding them behind their bodies from the hero.

And Midoriya was sure his friend’s sharp red eyes didn’t help matters out any.

“What part about an orderly line don’t you fuckers understand?!” Seemingly ignoring their plights, Bakugou chastised the crowd below. Their fear began to diminish as shame crept up onto their faces. The survivors began to look at one another, as if they were only blaming each other for the massive panic that had just been occurring.

“Line the fuck up and we’ll deal with you one at a time.” Having calmed down now, Bakugou spoke in his normal voice. Which, of course, was still loud enough to be heard by everyone present, but quiet enough not to cause permanent damage to anyone’s eardrums. “The supplies ain’t going anywhere and Ultimate Despair isn’t coming back! The more you push and shove the slower we’re gonna be handing this shit out. You got that?!”

There were a few nods and murmurs of agreement in the crowd in response to Bakugou’s question. Clearly, this wasn’t enough as Bakugou repeated his question, louder, and with another large Explosion accentuating it.

Quicker nods and louder voices of assent came forth from the survivors as they started to organize themselves. There were still occasional bouts of selfishness and shoving but the unruly crowd had been much more organized than before.

Satisfied, Bakugou sat back down and resumed their activities.

“Wow, Kacchan.” Midoriya whispered sitting beside him. “That was pretty impressive.”

“Yeah. Who knew having severe and unchecked anger issues would come in handy one day.” Uraraka agreed.

“Shut it!” Bakugou complained. “Just keep your arms moving.”

“Aye aye, captain!” Uraraka giggled.

As per Bakugou’s suggestion, the students continued their hard work. Handing over items and checking over lists at breakneck speeds in order to service everyone that came in a timely manner. The people standing in line went from Bakugou, who was handing out water, to Midoriya for rations, to Uraraka for warm blankets. Their names were checked off and they approached a different line for different supplies to take back to their families.

Overall, the camp they set up had been a pitifully small thing. Nothing quite like the temporary base they had built when the Future Foundation had been recapturing the city. One would think that an important mission like helping the citizens of a captured city rebuild would pull away more resources than what they had been given, but that wasn’t the case here.

Ramshackle tents and collapsible tables were set up around a small area in a small park near the center of town. The volunteers sat around on stackable plastic chairs and the supplies were being wheeled off the trucks in large crates. Clearly, the higher ups at the foundation hadn’t regarded this task as something that should require much of their efforts. They gave the workers the bare minimum to do what they set out to do and forced them to rely on volunteers who already had busy schedules.

Midoriya hadn’t expected Bakugou to sign up after he and Uraraka had left. Midoriya had emitted a soft squeak of surprise when they gathered, to which he was reproached quickly with an annoyed glare.

Initially, they weren’t certain that someone like Bakugou would be a good fit for an activity such as this. But it seemed that he was able to calm down the unruly survivors. Now if he would only stop snapping at them to “hurry the fuck up” while handing over the water.

Internally, Midoriya wondered if this was alright. He turned his head and saw Koichi Kizakura, their supervisor and the man in charge of the operation, leaning against the wall while biting into an apple calm and carefree.

It didn’t seem like he cared, or even noticed, what Bakugou had been up to just now. Kizakura simply maintained his relaxed attitude as he watched everyone work. Perfectly fine with letting things run by themselves. He caught Midoriya’s gaze and winked at him, a meaningless gesture that was supposedly cheering him on.

_Well, if Kizakura’s fine with it…_

Midoriya shrugged and quickly went back to work before Bakugou could yell at him.

* * *

“Damn you guys! You didn’t have to follow me!”

The three student heroes had been given breaks to catch their breaths and rest their overworked selves. They wandered a good ways away from the camp, where it was quiet, and gathered near a broken fountain. The exterior seemed to be badly damaged, while the interior, where all the water was meant to gather, was filled with dried blood. Midoriya shuddered and decided to step away.

“Ehehe, sorry about that, Bakugou.” Uraraka giggled then looked confused. “Wait, but you signed up after we did, didn’t you?”

“Huh?” It was Bakugou’s turn to look confused. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Well what did you mean, then?”

He pointed in their general direction. “I meant if the two of you wanted to go somewhere, you could’ve. Didn’t have to bother coming with me. I would’ve been fine by myself.”

Hearing this, Uraraka and Midoriya looked at one another slowly. A fine red hue began appearing on their faces. They turned to Bakugou.

“Kacchan, what are you-“

“That’s just ridicu-“

“I mean we’re all friends and-“

“Yeah! There’s no way we’d-“

“And it’s not like there’s anything-“

“Nope! Nothing at all-“

“SHUT UP!” Bakugou shouted, cutting in the middle of an overlapping chorus of ever increasing volume. “Cripes, forget I even said anything.” He glanced at their suspiciously red faces and failed to fight the urge to facepalm.

“Um, r-right.” Uraraka continued, determined to move on from the earlier awkwardness. “So Bakugou, why did you decide to sign up anyway? Not that we didn’t appreciate you coming. It just didn’t seem like the type of thing you’d be into.”

“Huh?” Bakugou said. “Well that’s why I came. That and I had nothing else better to do.”

“Oh, that’s why you decided to sign up? No other reasons?” Midoriya looked at Bakugou blankly while Uraraka and Bakugou stared at him with a quizzical expression. When it seemed like he wasn’t going to explain himself, Uraraka continued.

“But hey, the three of us together like this. It’s been so long, hasn’t it? We haven’t been together like this since…”

“Since the time we tested Hatsume’s megaphone guns.” Midoriya reminded helpfully.

“Right!”

Bakugou scrunched up his face and looked away, saying nothing while staring off into the distance.

“It’s hard to imagine that it was just a few months ago. It seems like such a long time now.”

“Ugh, I know. And man, Hatsume’s invention has really come a long way, hasn’t it? What’s it called now? Something Hacking Phone?”

“Megaphone Hacking Gun… I think?” Midoriya said. “It also has loads of features now. There’s a Paralyze and a Knockback and even a Link to control the Monokumas with. Um, but I’m still not really sure what the Dance option is for.”

“Ahaha… me neither. But I guess it’s still better that it’s there.”

“I guess.” Midoriya shrugged. “And do you remember that guy we encountered, Drifter?”

“Was that really his name?” Uraraka tilted her head.

“I’m not sure. I guess he never actually gave us his name, did he? I’ve just been calling him that in my head.”

“Makes sense.” Uraraka nodded. “He was actually pretty tough, huh?”

“Yeah, the first Ultimate Despair we ever ran into. It was a difficult fight, for sure.”

Their conversation lulled to an abrupt stop as they noted Bakugou, who was staying eerily silent and staring off into the distance. It only took the bright, young heroes a split second to realize what was wrong.

“Oh, s-sorry Kacchan.” Midoriya mumbled and instantly he regretted it.

“Huh?” Bakugou looked up. He angled his eye and Midoriya, then at Uraraka and they winced. “What the fuck are _you_ sorry for?”

“I-I mean…”

“Wasn’t _your_ fault that guy died, was it?”

“K-Kacchan!” Midoriya gasped.

“And you better not be feeling sorry for _me_ either!” Midoriya flinched at Bakugou’s words while Uraraka took a step back. “Everyone’s been feelin sorry for me, ever since Aizawa told everyone about what happened. They keep looking at me with their eyes full of pity, like I’m some sort of helpless weakling who can’t do anything right.”

Bakugou started kicking the stone wall of the dilapidated fountain with his shoe. “They keep saying shit like ‘it wasn’t your fault’ over and over, them and that therapist chick, Gekkogahara. And her stupid puppet, Usami.”

“Hey, Usami’s adorable!”

Ignoring Uraraka’s protest, Bakugou continued. “I know it wasn’t my damn fault! It’s all Ultimate Despair’s fault! Every last death! It’s all their fucking faults!”

Bakugou’s kicking increased in frenzy as he shouted. The stone perimeter began to crumble, and cracks started to appear.

“Wh-whoa, Kacchan…”

“Bakugou…”

But Bakugou paid it no mind. The cracks spread further and further as he mercilessly assaulted the wall with his foot. More and more the wall crumbled until one final kick broke pile of stone clean through. Debris flew down into the fountain, leaving a large gap in the wall. Bakugou’s foot hovered in midair for a few seconds before he put it down. He was breathing heavily as he surveyed the damages. He turned back to his friends’ concerned faces before looking away in a huff.

“Um, maybe we could blame that on Ultimate Despair…” Uraraka whispered to herself. Both her and Midoriya was peering down the fountain and making worried glances towards one another.

“Tch!” Bakugou clicked his tongue and began to walk away. He turned and yelled at the others not to follow him before angrily storming away.

Midoriya and Uraraka was silent for a little while after that. None of them knew what they should to say.

“Do you think he’s okay?” It was Uraraka who first broke the silence. “He looked really… angry.” That was the first word she could think of that wasn’t ‘hurt’ or ‘scared’.

“I… I don’t know.” Midoriya admitted. “This isn’t something that we’ve ever dealt with before. I think… I think we should give Kacchan some space before he returns. I think too much concern might just make him… angrier. There was a similar… _incident_ when we were children. Kacchan doesn’t really like it when it feels like you’re pitying him.”

Uraraka nodded, indicating her understanding.

Another brief moment of silence passed, and the two students looked at one another. They were finally alone, as per Bakugou’s earlier recommendation. But somehow, the atmosphere there wasn’t particularly welcoming.

“Um, maybe we should head back.” Uraraka suggested. “Deku?”

Midoriya shook his head. “You can head back first. We still have time on our break, right? I wanted to uh… explore the city a little bit.”

“Oh, um… alright.” Uraraka tilted her head at this strange request but decided not to question it. Saying goodbye, Uraraka headed back in the direction of the camp while Midoriya went further into the city.

* * *

It took all of fifteen minutes for Midoriya to get bored of wandering around. The sights, as it turned out, were dismal at best, utterly gruesome at worst. Ultimate Despair had left their villainous claws all over this fair city. From childish graffiti that stained the walls, to broken husks of fallen Monokuma robots, to the almost unrecognizable remains bodies all littered the areas around them. It wasn’t hard to figure out why everyone preferred to stay indoors.

The foundation were certainly going to have their hands full with cleaning all of this up. Midoriya couldn’t even shake his head in disdain. Just how bad had everyone’s lives been while this place had been under despair’s rule? He was interested, but he didn’t particularly feel like dredging up other people’s bad memories just to sate his own curiosity.

Adding onto that, the Future Foundation wasn’t exactly beloved here, even if they were the ones who liberated the city. Though some people were grateful, some people had felt that they had came far too late. Some families had already lost a member or two to the despair that had once been their masters.

Having decided that there was ultimately nothing to see out here, Midoriya was about to head back to where the camp was when he spotted a figure out of the corner of his eye. Midoriya quickly turned his head to make sure it wasn’t an illusion. He stared at the man’s scrawny body with a bewildered expression on his face.

“Young Midoriya.” All-Might raised a thin and bony arm while greeting the hero student. “How wonderful it is to see you here as well.”

“A-A…” Midoriya stammered a bit before a polite smile forced its way onto his face. “All-Might! So you were here too.”

“Yeah.” All-Might grinned as he walked towards Midoriya. “I came to see how you were doing.”

Midoriya eyed All-Might as he approached. He was wearing his usual black suit, ironed and brushed, the outfit almost shone under the morning sun. His dark eyes seemed to twinkle along with his jovial smile.

Midoriya had to admit, he looked good.

“You came to see me?” Midoriya wondered. “But why? I mean, we meet up plenty back at the foundation.”

“Heh, well. I thought we could have a change of scenery out here.” All-Might gestured around them. “Or at the very least, a breath of fresh air.” His shoulders sagged somewhat as they took in their surroundings.

“Yeah, I guess…” Midoriya frowned, not entirely agreeing with his mentor. “Hey, did you see Kacchan when you were wandering around earlier?”

“Hmm?” All-Might seemed to arc an eyebrow at the mention of “Kacchan.” He shook his head and frowned. “No, I can’t say that I did. Why, is there something going on between the two of you?”

“Oh! No, that’s not quite… well, I guess that’s…” Midoriya rubbed the back of his head while grimacing. “I guess you could say that I said some stupid things. He’s kind of angry at me.”

“A fight, is it? That’s too bad.” All-Might shook his head. “I do hope you two manage to work things out. But right now, I wanted to talk to you specifically, young Midoriya. Come, sit with me.”

All-Might went and sat on a nearby bench and gestured for Midoriya to do the same. Not taking his eyes off of him, Midoriya followed the retired hero and sat besides him.

“So what was it you wanted to talk-“

“Ah, before that.” All-Might interrupted and held out a long, green, stalky object. Midoriya blinked twice before he recognized it as a piece of celery. Where had he pulled that from?

“Celery?” All-Might offered.

“No thanks.” Midoriya said evenly. All-Might shrugged and began to nibble on the proffered vegetable himself.

“So,” All-Might spoke between bites, “what are your thoughts?”

“About what?” Midoriya asked quizzically.

“Your first big rescue mission, of course.” All-Might answered while munching. “You freed the citizens from a dastardly villain’s clutches and are now aiding with their recovery. You’re well on your way to becoming a real hero.”

“Oh, well… I don’t know.” Midoriya admitted. He rubbed the back of his head in an awkward fashion. “I guess it might be the setting, but it’s hard to feel like a real hero just because of something like this. I know they call us student heroes, but it really just feels like we’re just another extension of the Future Foundation. Like we’re a mobile police force or something. I don’t get the same sense of independence as I did when I saw heroes fighting when I was a kid.”

“Hm…” All-Might knit his eyebrows thoughtfully. “I see what you mean. Life certainly has been… different after the Tragedy. With the society that had been built up carefully over the course of several centuries crumbling into nothingness under Ultimate Despair. The Future Foundation rising up and imposing their own regulations onto the world… well, onto the parts of Japan they control. It certainly won’t be an easy task to get used to it all.”

“Yeah.” Midoriya nodded. “I guess that means that it’ll be impossible for me to become the same kind of hero that I wanted to when I was younger.”

All-Might looked sympathetically at Midoriya. He looked at the forlorn expression on his face and sighed. “No, but… think about it this way. You’ll get to start a new era of heroes, you and all of your classmates. You’ll pave the way for future generations with your actions today.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Midoriya agreed. “Things can never go back to the way they were before but… one day we’ll be able to stomp out Ultimate Despair and take back the society that we once had. I know we will.”

“Yes that’s… that’s absolutely right, young Midoriya.” All-Might looked at the boy strangely with a proud glimmer in his eyes.

“Then does that mean you think the world can go back to normal? And that Ultimate Despair can be defeated?” Midoriya asked politely.

“Of course.” All-Might declared as he finished his celery. He quickly pulled out a carrot out of thin air and began to munch on it. “Well, as normal as it can ever be with the Future Foundation in charge of things. I mean, just think about it. Our game has two players behind it, Ultimate Despair and the Future Foundation. In the case in which the Future Foundation wins, then they’ll essentially have control of the entire country.”

“But that’s at least better than Ultimate Despair having control of everything though, right?” Midoriya wondered.

“Well, yes, to a certain extent.” All-Might explained. “Right now, people are willing to rally under the Future Foundation’s leadership because the world has a common enemy in Ultimate Despair. They’ve seized power by becoming a force strong enough to fight back against despair. But once they’re gone, the Future Foundation will rule the entire country. And where would that leave us? No one voted for Tengan, nor Munakata, nor even me. Are the Japanese people just going to accept this new leadership?”

Midoriya thought about this for a moment, then answered without hesitation. “I’d vote for you, All-Might.”

“That’s not what I- gack!” All-Might laughed and coughed up blood at the same time. Midoriya stared at him silently with a curious expression as All-Might pulled out a pink handkerchief and wiped his mouth. Then he placed both it and the remains of the finished carrot back in his pocket. “That’s not really what I meant, young Midoriya. Forgive me for speaking ill of the organization I’m a part of, but the Future Foundation’s methods are far too heavy handed to be popular with the population at large. There will be large amounts of civil unrest and you can be sure that the Future Foundation will not simply give up their position after Ultimate Despair is eradicated.”

“Hmm. I think I get what you’re saying.” Midoriya nodded. “So right now, people are willing to put up with the Future Foundation and all the regulations they’ve set up because they’re united against Ultimate Despair. But without that common enemy, the Future Foundation will be less popular. Wow, I didn’t know you knew so much about politics, All-Might.”

“Ahem. Yes, well, I did do my fair share of reading after retirement.” All-Might coughed in embarrassment. “It can never hurt to stay too on top of things, you know?”

Midoriya hummed in agreement. He stared off into the distance, kicking his legs back and forth on the bench before turning back to the former hero. “And what about Ultimate Despair? Do you think they can be beaten?”

“Ultimate Despair, huh? Haah…” All-Might sighed as he repeated the name. He tilted his head back and up towards the sunny blue sky. It was one of the few parts of the world that despair hasn’t managed to ruin. Yet. “I think there’s a very good chance that the Future Foundation will overtake certain key areas from Ultimate Despair. But it’s hard to see a world where they will truly lose.

For one thing, Ultimate Despair is completely unorganized. Now, that can be a good thing in some situations. Such as the fact that they won’t be able to launch coordinated attacks like the Future Foundation can. But that also means that it’ll be harder to take them down. For all they’ve done to make sure their leader remains a mystery to the world at large, they don’t seem to rely on her much. Even if we manage to take out their leadership, the organization won’t crumble. They’re like cockroaches in that sense. I think it’ll be hard for Ultimate Despair to be fully destroyed.”

“Yeah, I can sort of see that happening.” Midoriya said. _‘Her’ huh?_ “We’re gonna have a tough fight ahead of us, won’t we?”

“Indeed. But that’s what being a hero is all about. Are you going to be ready for them, young Midoriya?” All-Might asked. “In order to defeat Ultimate Despair and bring normalcy back to our world, the Future Foundation will have to do their best to instill hope in the people around us. That means you, especially, as well as the other heroes that work for them will need to shine bright as beacons of hope.”

“That certainly sounds tough…” Midoriya sighed. “I don’t think I’d be able to shine brightly enough as a beacon just by myself. But I definitely believe it’s possible, especially if all of us are working together. The Future Foundation, the heroes, and my classmates… I’m sure of it. We’ll definitely be able to restore hope to our world.”

“That’s certainly good to hear.” All-Might nodded.

A brief moment of silence passed as a soft breeze blew through the empty city, carrying a few stray leaves along with it. Midoriya looked up at All-Might with a curious expression and All-Might looked back, smiling warmly at his pupil.

“Hey, All-Might.” Midoriya said suddenly, breaking the silence between them. He stared outward with a determined expression, not meeting All-Might’s eyes. “What do you think… what do you think about Izuru Kamukura? What do you think he’s doing right now?”

Another light breeze blew past as All-Might processed the question. With all the grace and eloquence of the former number one hero, All-Might replied. “Huh?”

“Izuru Kamukura.” Midoriya repeated. That was all he offered in terms of an explanation.

A tense moment of silence passed before All-Might answered.

“Er, by that you mean… the founder of Hope’s Peak Academy?” All-Might let this question hang in the air. For a while, Midoriya said nothing. Then, he sighed with great relief, as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“I’m sorry. That was a strange thing for me to ask. Nevermind.” Midoriya smiled innocently at the bemused hero, who simply shook his head and sighed.

“Well, I should probably start heading back.” All-Might said as he began to stand up. “Your break is ending soon, isn’t it?”

Midoriya nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

“…Right then.” All-Might coughed before continuing. “Well, it was a pleasure talking with you, young Midoriya. I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Oh no, All-Might. The pleasure was all mine.”

With that, All-Might set off.

* * *

It was near the edge of town where All-Might stopped. His stomach growled hauntingly, and he patted it with his hand. The faintest of rings appeared around his eyes as the soothing feeling of hunger overtook his body. Quickly, reaching into nowhere, he plucked out a green banana.

“It’s not quite ripe… but it’s all I have left…” All-Might muttered to himself as he unpeeled the fruit. With quick movements, he quickly ate it up and flung the peel onto the ground.

“The only thing in this world you can trust are fats and sugars… but that’s all gone now… and I haven’t been able to eat at a functioning fast food restaurant in ages. This is truly such wonderful despair.”

As he mumbled to himself, All-Might reached up to his face and hair, pulling both of them off in a single, fluid motion. In an instant, All-Might was gone, and the Ultimate Impostor stood in his place.

“How can a man be such an amazing hero with such a low body fat percentage? It’s baffling. The pro hero known as Fatgum should be what all heroes strive to be like. Even so…” The Ultimate Impostor tapped his own body, noting the complete lack of stored fat that he had once prided themselves on. “This new body made for the perfect disguise. I was able to get close to Izuku Midoriya without anyone suspecting a thing.”

* * *

Midoriya hummed as he arrived back at the camp. Uraraka and Bakugou were already there. Noticing him, the two of them stared at Midoriya with an odd expression.

“Uh, hey Deku. Did something good happen?” Uraraka asked tentatively.

“Uhhh, nope. Why do you ask?” Midoriya smiled obliviously.

Bakugou and Uraraka looked at each other, somewhat baffled.

“Oh right, Kacchan.” Midoriya called out, catching Bakugou’s attention. “Sorry about earlier. Are we still friends?”

Another glance.

“Uh, yeah. Sure…” Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Bakugou accepted. “Um come on. We gotta get back to work.”

“Right!” Uraraka said. With one last, confused look at Midoriya, Uraraka followed Bakugou back to their seats with Midoriya right behind them.

Midoriya watched his friends hand out supplies while smiling brightly at the survivors that came. Why were they acting so weird? Sure, there was that awkward moment they had during their break, but that shouldn’t be affecting them as heroes. Reassuring civilians with a smile on their faces, that was what being a hero was all about.

Of course, Midoriya was trying hard not to let his smile slip from ‘professional’ to ‘giddy.’ But he almost couldn’t help himself.

The All-Might impostor was… okay, the All-Might impostor was impressive, even he had to admit that. When he first saw him, Midoriya wasn’t sure if someone had simply cut out a mirror image of All-Might and animated that with a quirk. If he hadn’t been going into the conversation knowing that the All-Might he was meeting was nothing but a fake, Midoriya could definitely see himself being fooled. Heck, he was almost fooled several times _during_ their talk. He had to mentally kick himself to remind him that the All-Might sitting beside him was just an impostor.

Though, he wasn’t sure if the real All-Might had ever been as skinny as the impostor had been.

It was clear that the All-Might that had reportedly been sighted around this area was an impostor. That much had been obvious. It was partly the reason that Midoriya had decided to volunteer here. He had the perfect opportunity to converse with a member of Ultimate Despair freely without the Future Foundation getting suspicious. After all, he could just offer the excuse that he didn’t know it wasn’t the real All-Might.

Midoriya had been the one to gain the most from that conversation, of course. It was clear that Ultimate Despair’s goal was to gather information about the Future Foundation from some unsuspecting hero. Midoriya was careful not to offer up any useful information while obtaining valuable information on Ultimate Despair straight from the horse’s mouth.

Of course, the real victory had been the final tidbit of information he had obtained.

He almost couldn’t keep himself from smiling. There were certain things that the public knew or didn’t know and Izuru Kamukura was one of them. Outside of the branch division leaders and the heroes that were employed by the Future Foundation, no one knew of the special existence that was Izuru Kamukura.

When Midoriya mentioned his name, the All-Might impostor had responded with confusion. Of course, Midoriya was glad. It meant that Ultimate Despair, just like everyone else who wasn’t a part of the Future Foundation, knew nothing about him. Which meant that Kamukura hadn’t betrayed anyone after all.

Of course, Midoriya never stopped believing in his friend. But with this, he had proof of Kamukura’s innocence. He glanced at Uraraka and Bakugou while they were working. Uraraka seemed tense while Bakugou had a sour expression on his face. He could only imagine how happy they’ll be once they hear the good news.

Once again, Midoriya sighed with relief. Today had been a great day.

* * *

“So, you really managed to get to Midoriya like that? Colour me impressed.” A soft, breathy voice came from behind the impostor, spooking him and causing to quickly pull the fake All-Might face over his head. Ignoring the impostor’s reaction, the newcomer continued. “Well, what did you think?”

“Please… don’t sneak up on me like that.” The Ultimate Impostor grumbled using All-Might’s voice. “It’s not good for my health.”

“Ahaha, my apologies.” The newcomer smiled politely, but something in the way he spoke made him seem like he wasn’t being sincere. “But back to the topic at hand. Izuku Midoriya. You’ve met with him, yes? Tell me, what was he like. Was he more… hopeful?”

“Hm? Ah, well…” The impostor, now with his mask back in place, turned to the newcomer. “Hopeful? Perhaps. But that could just be nothing more than youthful optimism. However, I can sort of see now why you’re so enamoured with him. But I’m not entirely sure you’re correct in the assessment in that he’ll become the next Symbol of Peace. I just… don’t see it. There’s just something about him that makes him feel… off.”

The man sighed and looked at the impostor disappointingly. “That’s because you Ultimate Despairs are all the same. You have no vision for the future, for the hope that is bound to burst forth once the disease known as despair has taken its toll on the world. Midoriya just needs some time to grow, that’s all. Once he gets over whatever despair he’s feeling now, he’ll be able to shine even brighter than the Symbol of Peace that you’re pretending to be.”

“Hmm…” The impostor mulled over the man’s words carefully before responding. “You say that as if you’re not one of us as well.”

The man looked troubled for a bit, then smiled brightly as swirls filled their eyes. “No, but I can still manage to see the hope in the world, even if you’ve all turned your backs on it. In a sense, that’s _my_ despair.”

“Hmph.” The impostor grunted, as if not wanting to do anything with the mention of ‘hope.’ “Well, consider yourself lucky, I suppose. That this hope of yours doesn’t seem too likely to pose a threat to Ultimate Despair. That means there’s no need for us to squash it.”

“Hm?” The man looked confused. “I wasn’t worried about that at all. If Ultimate Despair was able to stop him, then that means his hope simply wasn’t strong enough, that’s all.”

Not really understanding what he was saying, the impostor gave a single nod. He looked out into the abandoned city. “Are you not planning on seeing him for yourself?”

“Oh no, I’m far too unimportant for something like that.” He held up his hands and grimaced. “I’m afraid that even meeting someone as worthless as me will taint his memories. In fact, I’d have hoped that he would’ve forgotten about me altogether.”

“…Right.” The impostor shook his head. He should’ve avoided this conversation when he had the chance. “In that case, where are you planning on going now?”

“Hmm…” The man put his hand to his chin and looked deep in thought. Suddenly, he smiled. “I hear Towa City is nice this time of year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we’re back! Did you miss me? Long story short, I fell ill a couple weeks back. Reeeeally cut into my writing time. I’m all better now, and I have a chapter to prove it.
> 
> The despair we meet this chapter is the Ultimate Impostor! He appeared a few chapters ago pretending to be the voice of Endeavour and was spotted in his All-Might costume roaming around having rumours spread of him. Did you manage to guess it right based on the hints?
> 
> Although they don’t show it here, the quirk idea I gave the Ultimate Impostor is the ability to lengthen and contract their spine to adjust their height at will. It comes in handy when disguising as different people.
> 
> Next chapter: An important discussion between friends


	20. Chapter 20

“So you see? This proves it. Kamukura has nothing to do with Ultimate Despair nor the Tragedy. Nothing at all.”

Midoriya, Bakugou, and All-Might were gathered in his office. Midoriya had called for a quick meeting to discuss what he had discovered while conversing with the All-Might impostor. Right now, he was going over what the impostor had said to him when he asked him about Kamukura.

Relief and elation spread through him as he recounted his story. But for some reason, his audience didn’t quite share his sentiment.

“Hold on.” All-Might held up his hand. “So you’re saying that you knew he was a fake before you asked him about Kamukura?”

Midoriya nodded. “That’s right.”

“Then, when exactly did you figure that out?”

Midoriya looked confused. “What do you mean, All-Might?”

“Well, you said that when you encountered this fake version of me, you didn’t realize that he was just an impostor. That was why you let him get so close to you.” All-Might looked to Bakugou and he nodded, indicating that Midoriya had told him the same thing earlier. “So that means that you had to have realized he was a fake some time _during_ your conversation. Isn’t that right?”

“Well, yeah… of course, I mean…” Midoriya trailed off. Both All-Might and Bakugou were staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to explain himself. “It was… some time during the middle.” Midoriya lied.

“Hm.” All-Might made a small noise of acknowledgement. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly but showed no sign of disbelieving Midoriya. Sitting beside him, Bakugou similarly stirred in his seat but said nothing. Drops of sweat rolled down the back of his neck as the silence lingered.

“And why was that, exactly? What did he say or do to make you suspicious of him?”

“W-why does that matter?” Midoriya asked.

All-Might arched an eyebrow. “I was just wondering why you didn’t make an attempt to escape when you realized that you were speaking to a member of Ultimate Despair.” He explained calmly. “Of course, being able to gather important information on the enemy is a positive. And I’m appreciative of the fact that you didn’t attempt to escalate the situation further when you were alone and had no backup. But it sounds to me that you decided to stay there even after you realized the danger just to gather more information on Ultimate Despair.”

Midoriya looked up and his eyes went wide. “That’s not… that’s not true at all!” He looked to Bakugou for support, who merely stared at him blankly. He seemed to be waiting for Midoriya’s explanation as well. Midoriya felt his throat dry up and licked his lips.

“I was looking for a good opportunity to leave, but I couldn’t find it. So I just tried to keep him talking.”

“I see.” All-Might nodded. “Well, you did great, young Midoriya-“

“Wait.” Bakugou interrupted and the others turned to him. “Something still feels off about this.”

“W-w-what do you mean, Kacchan? What’s off?” Midoriya struggled to keep his voice from sounding too high-pitched as Bakugou narrowed his eyes at him.

“You’re not going to tell us how you figured out that fake All-Might was an impostor?”

“That’s not really all that important.” Midoriya quickly deflected. “We should be focusing on what I was able to find out. About Kamukura…”

“ _Not all that important_?” Bakugou repeated Midoriya’s words in a low tone. “Really? You’re not going to tell us how you figured him out? Maybe his hair was parted in the wrong direction, or maybe his chin wasn’t pointy enough, or maybe the wrinkles under his eyes didn’t quite crease in the right way?

You’re not going to tell us what was it that you noticed that gave him away? You don’t want to _brag_ a little about how you could spot the difference between a real and a fake All-Might? Like the fanboy you are?”

Midoriya sat hunched in his chair, arms propping himself upright while he stared down at his lap in fear. His heart was beating like crazy under Bakugou’s accusations and cold sweat accumulated on his back.

“Minor details like that can change by the day. It would be impossible to discern a real or a fake from that alone.” Midoriya mumbled incredibly softly under his breath. Bakugou and All-Might both had to strain their ears to hear it.

“Then was it something that he said?” Bakugou, undeterred, continued his crusade. “If it wasn’t his wardrobe, then maybe it was the way he acted. Well?”

Midoriya quietly shook his head while continuing to stare downwards. He didn’t say a word.

“Then what was it?” Bakugou demanded. “What was the one tell that he gave that clued you in to the truth?”

“…” Midoriya swallowed. “He didn’t know Izuru Kamukura.” His voice was almost a whisper.

It was unclear whether Midoriya was saying that as answer or whether he simply wanted to steer the conversation back to the topic of Kamukura’s innocence. Bakugou grit his teeth in frustration and All-Might frowned.

“Wait, but I thought you only asked him about Kamukura after you figured out he was an impostor.”

“That’s right.” When Midoriya didn’t respond, Bakugou answered for him. “He asked about Kamukura only after he was sure that that All-Might was an impostor. But he couldn’t figure out that he was an impostor when he was talking to him. That’s a contradiction.”

Midoriya gripped the fabric of his pants tightly while All-Might seemed even more confused.

“Or should I say, he _didn’t_ figure out that he was an impostor when he met him.” Bakugou continued. “Because he didn’t _have to_.”

“You don’t mean…”

Bakugou nodded and glared daggers at his childhood friend. “You knew that person was an impostor, that he was a member of Ultimate Despair from before you even met him.”

All-Might’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. “Midoriya, is this true?” He asked. His voice soft yet forceful at the same time.

When Midoriya didn’t respond, Bakugou continued his deduction. “That was why you were acting weird ever since you got to the camp. It’s because you heard the rumours of All-Might having been spotted in that area. The entire reason you came was so you could find him!”

“No, that’s wrong!” Midoriya shouted out loud as Bakugou kept piling on the pressure. “I did also want to help those people as well. I would’ve signed up even if the impostor wasn’t there.”

“Fine then.” Bakugou relented. “But you admit that you deliberately searched out Ultimate Despair. Alone. Just so you could gather information on Kamukura.”

Midoriya said nothing. He could feel both All-Might’s and Bakugou’s gazes threatening to drill holes into his head.

“Midoriya…” All-Might sounded sad. Disappointed even. Midoriya could feel the guilt in his heart growing, almost overtaking the bliss he had felt when he learned of Kamukura’s innocence. “Why would you do something so dangerous?”

“Wasn’t dangerous.” Midoriya pouted. “I had it handled.”

He tried to push the guilt out of his heart, he tried to convince himself that he was in the right. But he couldn’t. Midoriya looked up and saw worry in his hero’s eyes. Worry and regret. To Midoriya, that was far more effective than words could ever have been.

“What do you mean you had it handled?” Bakugou muttered.

“And we found out that Ultimate Despair hasn’t even heard of Kamukura. Isn’t that more important anyway?” It was too late. He had to stay his path. Even if he got in trouble over this, Kamukura was more important.

“Midoriya, you know that the results are not all that matters.” All-Might quietly chided.

“I’m sorry.”

“When you only focus on the results, you lose sight of the truth.” All-Might sighed. “That Ultimate Despair could’ve been dressed up as me for any number of reasons. What if they wanted to lure out a Future Foundation member, not to gather information, but to kidnap them, or even kill them? What if there were more despairs lying hidden in wait?”

Midoriya said nothing. There was nothing he could say.

“I’m not… I’m not going to tell Munakata about this.” All-Might said eventually. Midoriya lifted his head and stared at All-Might curiously. “Don’t get me wrong. You did a very dangerous thing trying to find this Ultimate Despair alone. I know you didn’t go there with the intention of fighting, but I want you to remember that sometimes conflict is unavoidable. For now, I don’t wish to exacerbate the situation when your mistake is relatively minor.”

All-Might stared deeply at Midoriya with a ferocious glare in his eyes. “But I do expect you not to do this sort of thing again. Am I understood?”

Midoriya, not trusting his words, opted to nod instead.

“I understand that you care about your friend. And that you wish to believe in him. But that’s not worth risking your life over. Especially not now, when a single tragedy can easily cause a chain reaction.”

Beside him, Bakugou simply sat back in his chair, having no objections to All-Might’s final verdict.

“Now then, let’s talk-“

“Wait!” Midoriya interrupted. “You said you wouldn’t tell Munakata about me. But does that mean you’re not going to tell him about what I found out about Kamukura, either?”

“Yes… that’s what I wanted to talk about-“

“All-Might!” Midoriya slammed his hands on the desk in front of him and looked at All-Might desperately. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll take whatever punishment Munakata or Tengan wants to impose on me. I don’t mind. But it’s more important that Kamukura isn’t seen as suspicious by the Future Foundation anymore.”

Midoriya made his impassioned plea while All-Might simply looked away.

“That was what I wanted to talk about, in fact.” All-Might sighed wearily.

“What?” Realization slowly began to dawn on Midoriya. “You don’t… you don’t believe me.”

Midoriya couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could All-Might not trust him? After all the trouble he went through to sneakily contact Ultimate Despair. Midoriya could feel his heart sink deep into his stomach. Why? He said he understood his motivations, so why would he do something like this? Midoriya could slowly feel a gradual anger rising within him.

“I believe in what you saw and what you heard, young Midoriya. I just don’t think that-“

“It was Ultimate Despair! I asked about Kamukura and he didn’t know anything about him! How else could that possibly be interpreted?!”

All-Might tensed. He rubbed the back of his neck and cast an apologetic look at the boy. “I admit, that on the surface, it looks good for Kamukura. But you have to think critically about this. That impostor was pretending to be me, so it’s likely that they simply gave an answer they think I would give.”

“Yeah, or they weren’t important enough to know about him.” Bakugou added. “I mean, you don’t know whether that impostor guy was a grunt, or someone higher up or whatever. And obviously, if Kamukura’s working for Ultimate Despair, someone like him would be kept a secret. So only the really high ranking people would know about him.”

“What do you mean? Why would Kamukura be a secret?” Midoriya had calmed himself down for now, but the anger that had been boiling within him hadn’t fully subsided. He glared at Bakugou as he spoke, who merely stared back impassively.

“I mean, we haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since the Tragedy, right? It’s clear that _someone_ doesn’t want him to be found. If he was with despair, then it would be them. That’s all.”

“But he’s not.” Midoriya insisted. “Your theory is based on the idea that Kamukura’s working for Ultimate Despair. But you don’t know that. Maybe the reason that we haven’t heard from him is because… is because he has important personal matters… or something…”

Bakugou made a face. “They took away his memories and raised him in a lab. What sort of personal matters could that guy even have?”

“He regained Hinata’s memories, remember?” Midoriya reminded him. “Maybe it’s something related to those memories.”

“That happened a while ago, didn’t it? Why would he wait until just a few months ago?”

“Maybe it was something that he could deal with then. You don’t know anything about him. Or Hinata.”

Bakugou scowled. “And that’s the fucking problem, isn’t it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Midoriya asked in a vague tone.

“Enough!” With the heavy presence of the former number one hero, All-Might called out. The two boys stopped their arguing and looked forward at the hero. He sighed.

“I thought we agreed not to speculate on what Kamukura might be up to out there. Since we don’t know anything, it isn’t helpful to mindlessly throw out theories.”

“Right.”

“Sorry.”

“In any case, what Bakugou said could be correct as well. Just because they were a member of Ultimate Despair doesn’t mean they know of Kamukura _if_ he’s working with them.”

“Ah, wait but…” Midoriya looked up. “No, the All-Might impostor was definitely someone important in Ultimate Despair.”

“How can you be so sure?” All-Might asked.

“They mentioned something while we were talking. Something strange. They referred to their leader as ‘her’ when we were talking about Ultimate Despair’s power structure.”

All-Might raised his eyebrows while Bakugou frowned. “So?”

It was All-Might who answered for Midoriya. “One of the prisoners that we apprehended… they revealed some important information on Ultimate Despair. Apparently, only fourteen individuals have met with the actual mastermind behind the group. Only fourteen, and no one else.”

This time, it was Bakugou’s turn to look surprised. “Fourteen? Wait, that means…”

“Yes.” All-Might nodded. “It’s the students pictured on the photographs that Koizumi gave to you. Her and her classmates from Hope’s Peak Academy.”

“Wait, but…” Bakugou reached into his pocket and pulled out a photograph. All the students, and Yukizome, stood facing the camera. “Counting Koizumi who’s taking the picture, there’s fifteen students here. What happened to one of them?”

“That I’m not too sure about.” All-Might admitted. “But we can be sure that whomever it was that Midoriya met with, it was one of the students there.”

Bakugou squinted his eyes and studied the picture in his hand. He looked up. “Uh, hate to break it to you. But none of these guys look like you.”

“It’s a student at an academy for people with ultimate talents. Maybe their talent is disguising. They could even be in disguise when the photos were taken.” Midoriya suggested.

“To think that you willingly met with someone so dangerous…” All-Might sighed. “Well, even that is the case, there is still the possibility that they might have been able to trick you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Back to what I said earlier. I mentioned that the impostor was merely pretending to be me, so when asked about Kamukura, they gave an answer that they thought I would make.” All-Might explained slowly. “Your theory for Kamukura’s innocence rests on you having thrown him off guard with your question. But their confusion could just as likely have been an act meant to trick you as well.”

“But you know who Kamukura is. You wouldn’t have reacted like that-“

“No, but does Ultimate Despair know that I know?” All-Might countered. He shook his head. “I’m sorry Midoriya, I know that you want to help your friend, but right now we don’t have enough information to make a judgement.”

Midoriya didn’t say a word. He looked at All-Might, then to Bakugou. Neither of them said anything and stared at Midoriya with pity in their eyes.

“Fine.” Midoriya muttered before getting up and exiting the office. Behind him, Bakugou said a brief farewell to the former hero before following along.

* * *

As soon as they were outside, Midoriya turned to Bakugou with clenched fists.

“What the heck was that?” He scowled. “Why did you have to go and say all of that? Why couldn’t you have backed me up?”

“Huuh?” Bakugou made a weird noise indicating his immediate confusion at what Midoriya just said. “What the hell are you talking about, Deku?”

“I mean all that stuff about me not figuring out who the impostor was and whatnot.”

“Hmph. I was right, wasn’t I?” Bakugou retorted, still not quite getting what Midoriya was saying.

“It doesn’t matter if you were right or not. You still made my evidence seem completely weak. Now All-Might doesn’t even believe me.”

“…You think _I_ did that?” Bakugou muttered under his breath. Midoriya, who kept on walking, didn’t seem to hear. “And in any case, aren’t you going a bit too far with this?”

“What do you mean ‘too far’?” Midoriya turned and narrowed his eyes. “I haven’t broken any rules. The Future Foundation revoked the rules stipulating us from fighting Ultimate Despair. And it wasn’t even a fight. And I had it handled even if it became one.”

“You only think that cause you got out in one piece.” Bakugou reminded him. “That’s called Survivorship Bias.”

Midoriya stopped walking and turned to face Bakugou. “Do you even care what happens to him? Do you?”

Bakugou flinched, then sneered down at Midoriya with an enraged face. “Of course I care. Why do you think I don’t?”

“Because you haven’t done anything to help him.”

“Why the fuck would I need to do that?” Bakugou asked. “He’s a grown ass man. He can take care of himself.”

To this, Midoriya said nothing and merely glowered at his friend.

“Besides, it’s not like your attempt was any better.” Bakugou muttered.

“No thanks to you!” Midoriya countered. “Besides, I’m not done yet.”

Bakugou stared at him with wide open eyes. “Oh god, you’re going to do _more_? Didn’t you hear a single thing All-Might said?”

“Of course, I’ll change up my methods a little.” Midoriya placated. “But I’m definitely not going to stop until I prove his innocence.”

“Why don’t you just leave this to the professionals?” Bakugou groaned, to which Midoriya whipped his head back.

“Because all of those ‘professionals’ believe that he’s guilty.” Midoriya said. “And in case you’ve forgotten, we’re considered professionals too.”

“Yeah, because of a technicality.” Bakugou grumbled. “And they don’t think he’s guilty, just suspicious. They’ll capture him alive and take him in for questioning. We’ll get our answers then.”

Midoriya stopped, glared at Bakugou one last time before walking off. Bakugou scoffed as he watched him leave. He turned a corner and almost ran directly into Todoroki.

* * *

“Whoa.”

“Shit!”

Bakugou stumbled back before the two of them could collide. It took them both a second before they realized what was going on.

Bakugou narrowed his eyes. “Were you listening?”

“I didn’t mean to.” Todoroki pursed his lips. He looked apologetic but still defiant. “I was merely passing by.”

Todoroki hung back and saw Bakugou glare at him in anger. His lip quivered and it seemed that he was about to start yelling at him. Then, all of a sudden, the rage left Bakugou as if a candle had been snuffed out. He made a sort of face as if he were just remembering something.

Then he noticed Todoroki staring at him and he started glaring again. Albeit a tad more muted now.

“Whatever.” He scoffed and started to walk away, brushing past him.

Todoroki wanted to let sleeping bears lie, but… “Are you and Midoriya in a fight?”

Bakugou’s head whipped back so fast Todoroki was amazed he didn’t give himself whiplash. “What was that?”

“That’s what it sounded like, at least.” Todoroki rubbed his chin, recalling bits of what he heard. “Did something happen between the two of you while you were out volunteering?”

It was quick, but Todoroki noticed Bakugou look away for just a moment. “That’s none of your business!”

“Midoriya is my friend as well.” Todoroki reasoned. “And if this spat endangers our lives tomorrow then I’d say it would be my business.”

“You’re not on my team tomorrow.” Bakugou deflected. “And neither is Deku.”

“I don’t mean to pry. You can walk away if you don’t wish to discuss this, but I believe… were you two discussing something involving Kamukura earlier?”

Bakugou’s eyes went wide for a mere second and Todoroki knew he was right. He watched Bakugou carefully. He wasn’t saying anything, but it seemed like he wasn’t making any effort to leave either.

“And by the way you were talking… Midoriya did something dangerous again, didn’t he?” Todoroki noted the resigned expression on Bakugou’s face which confirmed it. “I see.”

“You done?” Bakugou asked in annoyance.

“You’re worried about him, aren’t you? You’re afraid that he might get hurt.”

Bakugou’s face contorted with confusion. “The hell? Why the fuck would I be worried about Kamukura? He can take care of himself.”

“I wasn’t talking about Kamukura.” Todoroki said. “But it’s nice to have confirmation at least. I was talking about Midoriya.”

“Deku? Why would I be worried about _him_?”

“He’s your friend, isn’t he?” Bakugou scoffed at this. “You’re close to him. And it’s fairly typical of Midoriya to push himself into danger for others. It seems this time is no different. You care about his wellbeing. Clearly. Otherwise why would you get angry about him for doing so?”

“Because he’s being fucking stupid, that’s why!” Bakugou declared this and promptly stomped away before he could get in another word in edgewise.

Todoroki watched his friend leave. He wondered if he should talk to Midoriya about this matter but in the end, decided against it.

It was only bad luck that he happened to bump into Bakugou like that. Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s a need to involve himself more than he already has. For now, he’ll let those two handle things on their own. They should be able to do that much at least.

* * *

“Kacchan doesn’t want to help me, that’s fine. I can find someone who’s willing to help or simply go about this by myself. Either works. All I have to do is find Kamukura and ask him what he’s been up to or find irrefutable proof that he wasn’t involved with Ultimate Despair. Ideally, won’t it all be resolved if I can simply find Kamukura? No, because the Future Foundation is still suspicious of him. They’d lock him up in a cell… probably. Will they? All Munakata has is that video of him, and those files. But they don’t have anything even close to resembling proof that Kamukura was working with Ultimate Despair.”

“Uh, Deku?”

“So the priority is finding Kamukura, then? But where would he be? Is it possible that he left the country before the Tragedy happened? If that’s the case, we’d have no chance of locating him. But we don’t know if that’s the case. Right, I should assume that he’s still somewhere in the country, otherwise there would be no point in this endeavour. Then would he likely be in Future Foundation territory or Ultimate Despair territory… or neither.”

“Deku?”

“Even though the Future Foundation is searching for him, it’s possible that he managed to evade capture somehow. He might have disguised himself like that Ultimate Despair did… and the same goes for if he was in despair territory as well. But if he doesn’t want to be found, how would I be able to? No, that line of thinking isn’t hopeful. Even Kamukura can make mistakes, right? That means there’s a chance that I-“

“Deku!”

“H-huh? What’s going on?” Midoriya finally looked up and saw three pairs of eyes watching him curiously. Uraraka, Iida, and Asui were all staring at him, perplexed and somewhat concerned. Heat rushed to Midoriya’s cheeks as he realized. “Ah, I was mumbling again, wasn’t I?”

“Just a bit.” Said Asui. “Though we were trying to get your attention for a while. Must have been something important.”

“Haha, it was… well, nevermind that for now. What’s up?” Suppressing his embarrassment, Midoriya decide to change the topic altogether.

As soon as his talk with All-Might and Bakugou ended, Midoriya went to the cafeteria for lunch. Currently, he was sitting with his friends, Uraraka, Iida, and Asui. The food in front of him lay untouched as he had been momentarily distracted up until now. Quietly, he began to dig in.

“We were talking about the mission we have tomorrow. It seems that all the students will be participating in it.” Iida said. “We were planning on going to the support department and checking up on our gear and were wondering if you wanted to come as well.”

“Oh sure, I’m in.” Midoriya agreed without hesitation. “I need to make sure my gauntlets are working okay. And see if my hacking gun is still working correctly. It’s going to be pretty important, I imagine.”

“Ugh, that’s right.” Uraraka groaned. “Definitely not looking forward to shooting a whole bunch of Monokuma. I’m still not really used to aiming the thing. And the yelling is really bad for my throat.”

“It’ll be fine.” Asui said. “We’ll be backing you up every step of the way.”

“That’s right.” Midoriya nodded. “Besides, you can customize your gun to make it more to your own style. I personally have my gun set to fire slow but powerful shots.”

“Oh yeah, I should do that. I haven’t done any modifications yet. Didn’t want to accidentally break it or something.”

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.” Iida said. “I personally prefer the way mine is without any modifications.”

Midoriya smiled. He was glad to be among friends. He was still feeling somewhat sour about the meeting he had with Bakugou and All-Might earlier. He knew it wasn’t their fault. Not really. Bakugou was a bit cynical and All-Might liked to be sure about things. It didn’t mean that they didn’t believe in Kamukura.

Yeah, that was probably it. Midoriya reminded himself that not everyone would see eye to eye with his opinions, and that was fine. It would be a regular occurrence in life. He didn’t have to get angry at them like he did and… ugh, he should probably apologize for snapping at them, huh?

Midoriya felt his cheeks burn at the memory. He was already beginning to feel embarrassed for the way he acted. How was he going to face All-Might at the briefing tomorrow, or Bakugou during the mission. His one solace was that they hadn’t been sorted in the same group, but it’d still be awkward.

Ugh, guess there was no way around it, huh? He’d have to talk to them sooner or later.

But… maybe he could leave it a little while. Just to let them, and himself, cool off a bit. Yeah, that seemed sensible.

It certainly wasn’t because he felt nervous about it. Nope, definitely not.

“Hey, Midoriya?” Asui called out, snapping the boy out of his reverie.

“Yeah?”

“What was on your mind earlier? You were concentrating pretty intensely.”

“Oh, it was nothing… well, not nothing, I suppose. I was thinking about Kamukura.”

At the mention of his name, the others stopped mid-chew and turned towards Midoriya. It seemed that the focus had suddenly shifted to him.

“Kamukura, huh…?”

“Yeah.” Midoriya had a serious expression as he nodded. “I was wondering where he might be.”

Iida looked down. “We haven’t had any trace of him since he left so long ago. Speculating about it might just be a fool’s errand.”

“Yeah, but… it just worries me. Not knowing where he is, even if I know he’s probably strong enough to handle it.”

“And smart enough, and fast enough, and… lucky enough? Though, I don’t really get that one.” Uraraka added. “That video that Munakata showed us sure didn’t help things much.”

“I think he showed us that just to make us doubt Kamukura.” Midoriya pursed his mouth. “But we knew what Kamukura was like personally. It doesn’t matter how he came to have his powers, or if he was quirkless. Knowing that doesn’t change the truth.”

“That’s true… but there was also that _other_ video.” Asui tapped her chin thoughtfully. “The one showing the student council killing each other.”

“Yes… that one was quite distressing, if I may admit.” Iida agreed. “And the timeframe as well. Since we know that he went to Hope’s Peak Academy for his internship week and that allegedly happened around that time.”

“According to Munakata.” Midoriya muttered.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how all those missing students could be covered up like that?” Uraraka mentioned. “Surely, someone had to have suspected something. I hope UA wasn’t covering anything big.”

Midoriya’s mind quickly flashed to the fight he had against Gentle, but he shook it away. “No… nothing quite as big, I imagine. Nedzu was a good principal. And he’s been very helpful with aiding in the Future Foundation as well.”

“That is true, I suppose.” Iida nodded. “UA is a wonderful school with a world renowned reputation.”

“But it was that reputation that caused Kirigiri and the Steering Committee to want to cover up their students dying.” Asui noted and Iida had to admit that was true.

“In any case, I wonder what Kamukura is doing out there. Or why he had to leave so suddenly.” Uraraka frowned. “It sure was a weird coincidence that he left the day before the Tragedy first started.”

“Are we sure it was a coincidence?” Asui croaked questioningly, drawing everyone’s attention, especially Midoriya’s.

“W-what do you mean by that, Tsuyu?” He said, struggling to keep his voice even. He could feel the familiar anger from earlier rising up within him. He was struggling to push it down.

“Well, I was just thinking… I know Kamukura didn’t really talk much. Usually not unless he was spoken to first. But there was something that he usually mentioned whenever he did speak up.” Asui said. “And that was how he was able to predict things.”

“What would that have to do with him leaving?” Uraraka frowned. “Unless you’re saying that he managed to predict the Tragedy occurring?”

“I do think that.” Asui nodded. “But obviously he wouldn’t leave just because of that. So I was thinking about something else that he said a lot. About how everything was boring to him because of how he could accurately predict things.”

“Wait, you don’t think…”

“Kamukura left because he knew the Tragedy was about to occur…”

“Because he thought there would be something he couldn’t predict out there in the world?”

Uraraka, Iida, and Midoriya guessed at what Asui was insinuating and she nodded her head.

“Of course, this is just a theory.” She added. “It’s not like I have proof this is what happened or anything. I just thought that this was more likely than him helping out Ultimate Despair.”

“I see.” Midoriya mumbled as he relaxed. “So that’s what you meant.”

Asui nodded again. “It’s been on my mind for a while. It might not make that much sense. But what do you guys think?”

“I guess… it sort of makes sense?” Uraraka tilted her head in thought. “I guess for someone as weird as Kamukura was, he’d have a weird reason for doing what he does.”

“As far as theories go, it’s certainly not outlandish.” Iida pushed his glasses up as he pondered.

Midoriya agreed. Speculating over what Kamukura was up to had been fairly popular at their dormitories. It was a sensitive subject, considering it touched on the topic of their fellow classmate, and one that they didn’t know the safety of. But people generally had the feeling of “he’s probably fine sine it’s Kamukura, after all” and voiced their crazy, oftentimes inane theories on what the former student might have been up to amidst all this despair.

The topic wasn’t touched on very often. But it often gave a sense of security when discussing it with a group of friends. It allowed people to take their minds off of less pleasant thoughts. Such as the theory that Kamukura betrayed them and was working for Ultimate Despair, or that Kamukura was despair’s prisoner, or any other kind of danger that he might have gotten into.

Those types of discussions never tended to go anywhere, though. Kamukura was far too difficult of a person to try and figure out. They knew they wouldn’t get anywhere with random guessing, and they typically always circled back to the fact that they knew very little about the man himself. Discussions of this nature often ended very quickly.

“But in the end, all we really have are theories, huh.” Midoriya mumbled. “There’s nothing concrete.”

The heavy mood hung around the students, gradually causing them to lose their appetites. Soon, lunchtime ended, and they got ready for whatever they had scheduled in their afternoons, either classes or patrols, with the topic of Izuru Kamukura weighing heavily on their minds.

* * *

In Japan, it’s a common superstition that if you sneeze, then that means someone is talking about you behind your back. This belief is so prevalent that both adults and children alike have all heard of it. Any time someone sneezes, the people around them might jokingly wonder if they were the subject of another conversation elsewhere.

This, of course, is merely a superstition. Sneezes are not directly related to whether or not people have been bringing you up in conversation. They were usually caused by allergies or irritants and sometimes sickness. If the phenomenon were true, then the person hiding inside a certain leafy tree may have begun to sneeze several minutes ago. And they would show no sign of stopping even now.

But Izuru Kamukura did not sneeze. His nose did not even twitch, and he hadn’t the faintest idea that anyone had been discussing him or were still talking about him this very moment.

Even if he had known that, he still wouldn’t have cared.

All his attention was focused on remaining hidden. Staying perfectly still and utilizing his stealth-related talents such as the Ultimate Spy and the Ultimate Hunter, Kamukura completely erased his presence as he waited.

“Aha! There you are! Found you. Thought you could hide from me?” A woman’s voice called out deliriously from nearby.

“Damnit!” The man she was chasing looked behind her and grimaced. He was out of breath and clutching his arm as he fled. He let go of it and the arm swung to his side, broken and useless. The man held up his hand as if it were a warning to stay back.

The woman laughed and started to walk over slowly, savouring every step as the man struggled to remain standing. As she walked, the nails on her hand started to extend. They grew drastically in length and became as sharp as razors.

Kamukura watched as the woman slashed at the man, cutting diagonally across the man’s chest. Blood stained his ripped shirt as it flew out of him in buckets.

The woman wore a satisfied smile on her face as she admired her own handiwork. But that smile began to falter when he noticed the man raising his good arm up to his wound. Clawing at his deep wound, he grabbed a handful of his own blood and threw it at the woman. She raised a hand in order to block it, but a few splatters landed on her face.

The effect was instantaneous. Dark purple blotches began spreading where the blood had splattered on her, which quickly spread across her skin, highlighting her veins in purple.

She screamed in agony as the blood flowed across her system before falling over, a lifeless husk. The man quickly joined her, lasting just a little longer but eventually succumbing to the lack of blood.

Kamukura watched all of this unfold without so much as a flicker of emotion on his face. He took one last look at the corpses staining the floor before jumping down off the tree and landing without making a single sound.

“How boring.” He muttered to himself. He heard screams off in the distance. One to the south and a couple from the northeast. The southern one was closer but Kamukura decided to head northeast instead. It wasn’t likely to be more interesting just because there were more people there, but he decided to try anyway.

A memory flashed in his head. Hadn’t Enoshima promised that despair would bring unpredictability? He had spent several months already wandering Ultimate Despair’s territory. Observing them stealthily without anyone knowing. But he still hadn’t experienced anything that had been truly unpredictable. There was still nothing that quite matched the time from back then, with Midoriya or Enoshima.

How were those two different than the others? Kamukura couldn’t really say. He had once thought that the strength of their respective hope and despair was what caused them to be unpredictable. Now he wasn’t so sure. Perhaps Kamukura should’ve spent more time analyzing them before reaching a conclusion.

Right now, Enoshima was locked up inside Hope’s Peak Academy. Kamukura could get past the security if he wanted to, but he saw no reason to do that as it would unnecessarily disrupt her plans. As for Midoriya, he could always go back to the remodeled UA buildings if he wanted to check up on him. But his plans would bring them to meet in due time, there was no rush nor was there a reason for Kamukura to go out of his way either.

Instead, Kamukura bided his time. It would be a while before he can begin to make his next move. That depended entirely on the efficiency of the Future Foundation. They were making good pace with regards to retaking the country.

Once the Future Foundation captures all other members of Ultimate Despair, that’s when Kamukura’s plan can proceed. For now, all Kamukura could do was wait for that day to come. For now, all he could do was observe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, hope everyone is healthy and safe during the COVID-19 outbreak. I’m just here, working at home and writing fanfiction in my downtime.
> 
> Izuru Kamukura reappears after taking a long break from the story! Did you miss him? I certainly did. He’s laying low for now, but sooner or later he’ll be back to earn that character tag at the top of the page.
> 
> The hint for the next Ultimate Despair this time might be a little weak. Or it might’ve given you the answer instantly, I’m not sure. Regardless, the next despair and the person they’ll be fighting against is something I’ve been anticipating for a while now. Look forward to it, okay?
> 
> As always, leave a comment if you enjoyed the chapter. Many thanks!
> 
> Next chapter: The class goes on a mission


	21. Chapter 21

The slow rumble of machinery echoed through the building. The drills buzzed gently as the soothing hum of the engines filled the air. Presses thumped down regularly, like mechanical heartbeats, as conveyor belts whirred and carried pieces of scrap to and fro.

The factory was like a living creature. Moving, working, carrying about in perfect synchronicity. Breathing new life into Ultimate Despair’s plans. The soft pitter-patter of worker Monokuma were the only irregular sounds that could be heard from within these fortified walls.

The man in the hammock sighed in pure bliss. The factory sounds acting as soothing white noise as he rested his eyes. The soft swaying and warm, pleasant air only adding to his relaxation.

But there was something missing…

His head snapped to the side and came face to face with a Monokuma robot on standby, staring at him without moving. He pointed at the robot.

“You! Get me something to munch on.” The robot saluted and immediately began to waddle away. “And something to drink too while you’re at it!”

The man watched the Monokuma robot get further away and disappear into the crowd of other Monokuma that were working on maintaining the factory. He stretched his body out and relaxed, allowing himself to sway gently on the hammock.

This was the life. Everything was set up so that he didn’t have to do a thing. More and more Monokuma were getting churned out and he didn’t even have to lift a finger. Everything was automatic, there was practically nothing for him to do but to oversee the entire operation.

The Monokuma he sent out earlier returned, carrying a tray above its head with its stubby little paws. Waddling slowly so that it doesn’t spill the tray’s contents. Without even looking, the man’s hand shot out and snatched its contents. A bag of chips and a box of apple juice. Ah, perfect.

The robot left again, no doubt to replace the tray with a wastebasket for when he inevitably finished his snack. It was quite impressive, really. He could certainly see an argument for keeping these guys around as mechanical butlers.

In fact, that was what they were originally marketed as. Your very own personal service robot, right in your own homes, just like that one blue, robotic cat from the future. But now Ultimate Despair’s turned them into mindless killing machines. Terrorizing the entire country in droves.

Wait, weren’t some of them also being exported as well? So that means these Monokuma units were actually a worldwide phenomenon. The idea of Ultimate Despair having global reach awed him somewhat. He hadn’t even set foot outside of the country before and somehow they’ve affected the entire world.

The man paused his snacking for a moment. He wondered what the original designer of the prototype might be thinking about this. He’d never met them before, but he knew they were from Towa City or thereabouts. And there was a fairly sizable factory there too.

Oh well, no use in thinking about that now. He tilted the bag and shook the last of the crumbs out before crumpling it up and lobbing it towards the wastebasket. His aim was off, and it bounced off of the Monokuma’s face and landed on the ground instead.

The robot bear quickly moved to pick up the trash while the man sighed and squeezed the last bit of juice out of the container. He tossed that on the ground as well, not bothering to try and get it into the basket this time.

While this was happening, another Monokuma came waddling up to him. This one looked worried. No, don’t ask him how something like that was even possible, it just did.

“Oh no!” It cried out in its tinny robot voice and flapped its arms about.

“Eh? What’s wrong? Little Timmy fell down a well or something?”

“Graaarrr!” The Monokuma attempted to communicate but it only had so many pre-programmed voice lines to choose from.

Sighing, the man started to get out of the hammock. Adjusting his beanie as he griped. “Alright, alright. I’m coming. Just lead the way or whatever.”

The Monokuma led him into the control room, a room with many monitors and buttons, allowing him to see and act on every corner of the whole entire factory. But that wasn’t what grasped his attention as he stepped into the room. All of his focus was on a single, flashing red button connected to a semi-rectangular device.

The man gulped. He hurried over to the device and picked it up gingerly. He pressed a button and the intimidating image of the caller popped up on screen glaring harshly into him.

“Took you long enough! What the hell were you doing making me wait like that?!”

“Gaah!” The man fumbled the device and it dropped onto the ground. Scrambling, he quickly picked it up and set it on the table.

“Fucking stop that! I’m gonna get motion sickness if you keep waving it around like that!”

“S-sorry…” The man pulled his beanie over his head as a defensive cover against the rage, but it didn’t seem to work. “I was uh, in the washroom…?”

“Ugh.” The caller pulled a face and snarled. “Don’t fucking tell me that! That’s fucking disgusting!”

“Sorry…” He hung his head.

“Alright, fuck. We’ve wasted enough time already.” The other man said. “Here’s the situation: the heroes are on their way to destroy the factory. Deal with them.”

“H-huh? Wait, huh? What did you just say?”

“I _said_! The Future Foundation are on their way to the factory to stop Monokuma production! You got that?! So stop them by any means necessary. And _don’t_ fuck this up!” He accompanied this by slamming a fist on the table, causing the other man to jump again.

“Wait a second, alright?” The man held up his hands. “When are they coming?”

“By our estimates, probably some time around this afternoon. So be ready by then.”

“Afternoon?! I can’t possibly- okay, okay!” Cowering at his superior’s tough glare, the man easily relented. “Are you at least going to send someone to help me, at least?”

“Fuck no! You think yours is the only place they’re hitting? Our forces are stretched enough as is!” The person on the other end of the call roared. “You can handle yourself against something like this, right? And if you’ve got to run away with your tail tucked behind your back, don’t come running to us. You got it?!”

The man could do nothing besides whimper and nod.

Grunting, the caller disconnected the call without even saying goodbye. The man stared at his own face, reflected back in the dark screen.

What was he going to do? All this place did was churn out Monokuma units by the hundred. They weren’t equipped to deal with _heroes_. They would be totally annihilated. And they’re not even going to send people to help him? What were they expecting him to do all by himself?

A stony pit formed in his stomach. He just wanted to roll under the desk and lie there in the dark, hoping the heroes pass him by when they come. There was absolutely no way he could win against them. All he had there was droves upon droves of Monokuma. They weren’t all that useful in a fight against a coordinated team. Well, not unless they had _that person_ there.

Yeah, all they needed to do was to send that one person and he’d be totally in the clear. With _that person_ here he wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. But they didn’t. And what’s worse, he’s expected to deal with all this by himself.

The more he thought about his current predicament, the more hopeless things became. The more hopeless things became… A sudden jolt ran up his spine and his face twisted in a wide smile. What a hopeless situation this was! Yes! What a delightfully despairing situation he found himself in. It was overwhelming!

No way to fight and he wasn’t allowed to run. There were simply no outcomes in which he was the victor. It was almost like the first time he tasted the exceptional allure of despair. It was just like that time… just like back then… he felt so helpless, just watching along. His eyes had been fixated on the despair. Why didn’t he look away?

If only he could revel in this feeling forever. If only…

Hey, hold on a moment. The man was suddenly jostled out of his reminiscing and his eyes brightened, as bright as one’s eyes could while deep red despair swirled around inside of them.

Hadn’t he been thinking about this all wrong? It was true that their firepower was too weak to be useful in a fight, but there was more than one way to skin a cat.

The man smiled with sharp teeth. If he couldn’t crush the heroes with strength… then maybe he could rely on _despair_.

* * *

The door of the factory burst open with explosive force. Twenty students, all armed with megaphones, charged in, ready for battle.

An army of Monokuma greeted them with their arms raised and claws extended. They let out a tinny, robotic battle cry before charging at the students from all sides.

Quirks, claws, and hacking blasts flew back and forth in a vicious frenzy. With keen teamwork and skilled coordination, class 1-A quickly dispatched the robots, leaving nothing but useless scrap metal on the factory floor.

“Well, that was simple enough.” Uraraka said.

“The way those Monokuma were set up right behind the entrance… did they know we were coming?” Yaoyorozu wondered.

“They’re robots. It’s possible they were set to activate when intruders were detected.” Todoroki said. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they found out our plans somehow. It’s not like the Future Foundation was being conspicuous with this maneuver.”

“Listen up, everyone. Do you all remember what the plan is, and what the teams are?” Iida shouted in a commanding voice, waving his arm around while gathering everyone’s attention. “If anyone’s unsure, now is the time to speak up.”

A few moments of silence passed as they waited. When no one spoke up, Kaminari called out. “C’mon man, even _I_ was able to memorize everything. We’ve already got it down pat. So let’s just split up and take this place down already!”

Iida took another quick glance around them. Upon deciding that they were indeed ready, he nodded. “Alright then. Let the infiltration commence!”

* * *

The plan, as it stands, was simple. The Future Foundation would lead the charge on an assault directed towards the Monokuma factory in hopes of shutting down production. Thereby crippling Ultimate Despair’s ground forces and minimizing their threat towards various cities that were still not quite under the foundation’s control.

There were multiple Monokuma factories spread out all over Japan. They all operated independently, churning out Monokumas without a care as the world collapsed around them. Each hero class was assigned to one and were ordered to shut them down by any means necessary.

This was a necessary step in the eventual goal of destroying despair once and for all. As the foundation set their sights on Ultimate Despair’s home base, the Millennium Tower, they needed to clear out the weeds that surrounded it first.

The hero students split up into separate teams and each picked a path that connected to the entrance of the factory. The Monokuma awaited them, charging at the students with reckless abandon, robotically hoping to tear through flesh and bone with their razor sharp claws.

But the students weren’t going to give them that opportunity. Armed with quirks, various support items, and the all-important Megaphone Hacking Gun, they blasted through waves and waves of Monokuma as they progressed through the building.

The suspiciously empty building.

* * *

“Man, this place sure is empty, huh?” Kirishima noted in between uses of the megaphone. “Besides all the Monokuma, I mean.”

“Yeah, I kind of expected more Ultimate Despair to be here defending this place.” Uraraka agreed. “But so far, all we’ve seen are these robots.”

As she said this, a Monokuma leapt at Midoriya. She reacted before he could and deactivated the killer robot with a single aimed shout in its direction.

“Thanks!” He yelled and they resumed the onslaught. More and more robotic bears piled onto the floor as more and more of them leapt off of the catwalks in an effort to impede their progress.

“Arrgh! So damn annoying! Break!” Kirishima grumbled before firing off a blast of code directly at them “And aiming into their eye with this thing is seriously difficult.”

“Focus on the path ahead of you, Kirishima. At a critical juncture like this, you must not allow your heart to falter.” Tokoyami cautioned him. He was fighting off Monokuma more efficiently than the rest. With Dark Shadow swiping away Monokumas at the side, and a hacking gun in his hands, Tokoyami took down swathes of Monokuma with relative ease.

“Easy for you to say, man.” Kirishima grumbled to himself. Still, he knew that Tokoyami was right. Any mistake he made could easily be their last in a situation like this. It’s true that people haven’t thought of Monokumas as terrifying killer robots for a long time after Hatsume’s and Aiba’s combined invention. But for a while after the Tragedy had first occurred, they were forces to be reckoned with.

With his Hardening quirk, Kirishima took the vanguard position of their team. His quirk covered every part of his body besides his hands so that he could still use the hacking gun without scratching it. Uraraka and Midoriya covered both sides of their team while Tokoyami acted as the rearguard.

They made their way through the room as Monokumas lambasted them at all sides. With diligent effort, they were taken out one by one. Their numbers dwindled until eventually they stopped coming altogether.

“Looks like that was the last of them.” Kirishima announced. “Let’s move on.”

“Right.” His teammates nodded.

* * *

_Where am I? What is this place? I remember that huge Monokuma knocking me in here and the door slamming shut, but… where in the world am I?_

* * *

“Die, you assholes!” Bakugou channelled his anger and frustration out through the megaphone, directing hateful blasts of hacking waves towards a monstrous horde of killer robots. He charged through the factory, leaving only destruction in his wake. His team followed behind him, doing their best to keep up.

They rounded a corner and came face to face with a sea of Monokuma standing at the ready, their eyes lighting up in anticipation for a chance to tear these students to shreds. The heroes only hesitated for a brief moment upon seeing them before they clicked into action.

“I’ll stick you up. Grape Rush!” Mineta holstered his weapon and instantly launched a barrage of purple balls at the enemy. The Monokuma that tried to advance suddenly found themselves stuck to the ground, unable to move their stumpy little legs forward to attack. “Don’t underestimate my quirk!”

“Oh no.” The Monokuma voiced their displeasure using what little pre-programmed lines they had while the heroes took aim.

“Nice one, Grape Juice! Those guys are sitting ducks now that they’re not moving!” Kaminari said. “Break!”

“Keep that quirk coming if you can. Break.” Asui added as she shot down a few from the side.

“Don’t worry, I’m in top condition today!” Mineta bragged while unleashing an unending torrent of purple. “So step on up, Monokuma! I’ll let you all have a taste of my sticky Balls!”

“Phrasing. Ribbit.”

“Stop fucking blabbering and fucking shoot!” Bakugou yelled.

Their team plowed through the Monokuma with no resistance whatsoever. With their stubby robotic movements hindered my Mineta, the other three members could aim directly into their weak spots with no problem. Pretty soon, the floor was cleared.

“Man, this place is huge.” Kaminari marveled. Now that the fighting was over, they could take in the rest of the factory and what went on inside it. Production had been temporarily suspended, but there were still dozens upon dozens of conveyor belts still carrying pieces and parts that made up a single Monokuma unit. “How many of those things could this place make in a day? We must have destroyed at least a few hundred or so. But there are probably still more around the world, huh?”

“Where did they even get all the material to make all of this in the first place?” Mineta wondered.

“It’s probably better not to think too hard about it.” Asui said.

Bakugou turned back with a huff and gestured at them with his arm, urging them to get a move on. The others quickly made to follow him into the next room.

* * *

_Is this… supposed to be some sort of elevator? The inside kind of looks like one but… there aren’t any buttons. How am I supposed to select what floor I want to go to? And what does a place like this need an elevator for anyway? Especially not one that was hidden inside of a wall._

* * *

The Megaphone Hacking Gun that Hatsume developed doesn’t actually do anything to injure the Monokuma themselves. Instead, they transform sound energy into a hacking wave that forces the Monokuma to take actions that its AI was already programmed to take. This includes various things such as shutting itself down permanently, being forced backwards, or dancing for whatever reason.

The hacking gun utilizes sound energy no matter its initial source. Normally, students were instructed to yell loudly into it for effective results. However, there were some quirks directly related to manipulating sound energy that could get substantially more use out of the invention. Jirou’s quirk was one of them.

“Heartbeat Fuzz: Hacking Gun Amplification!” Attaching her Earphone Jacks to the Megaphone Hacking Gun, a burst of hacking sound waves shot forth in a cone, causing every Monokuma ahead of them to shut down.

Normally, that would cause the robots to fall over as well. But Todoroki had already frozen them to the ground with a quick application of his Ice.

“Absolutely dazzling! The way you fight is like beauty personified!” Aoyama complimented them from the side.

“It’s certainly powerful, but…” Ashido grumbled. “Couldn’t you have left a few for the rest of us to handle?”

“Heh, sorry Ashido.” Jirou smiled. “But we can’t go easy on them, even if they’re technically easy pickings for us.”

“I know…” Ashido sighed. “Whatever, let’s just clear this place out and take this factory down already.” Saying so, Ashido shot a particularly acidic mixture from her hands. The solution landed on the heads of one of the Monokuma, causing it to sizzle slightly.

“Arrgh, what are these things made out of?” Ashido groaned as Aoyama fired a Navel Laser with similarly little effect. Jirou turned and unleashed another blast using her quirk connected to the hacking gun.

“That seems to be all of them here. Let’s hurry up and move to the next room.” Todoroki called out.

The rest of the students nodded and made to follow him when Ashido’s brain picked up on something. She looked around, and the others stared at her.

“So that’s what Monokuma looks like without its fur. I guess it’s not very surprising.”

The others followed her gaze towards a frozen piece of machinery that carried a familiarly shaped robotic bear. Besides its gleaming red eye, the rest of the robot was dull and grey with its metallic outer shell.

“I can’t believe they actually bother with putting fur on every single one of them.” Jirou mused. “Why bother for an army of disposable killer robots, anyway?”

“Perhaps Ultimate Despair holds a high regard towards aesthetics.” Aoyama suggested. “But I cannot possibly agree with their tastes.”

“Or maybe they weren’t supposed to be killer robots in the first place.” Todoroki said. “Well, whatever. We still have a mission to do. Let’s keep going.”

“Right!”

* * *

_Huh? What’s going- oh, we’re moving. I guess this elevator must be remote controlled. Since there aren’t any buttons and all, that means someone must be controlling it from afar. And they’re probably watching me from… there! Damnit, are they watching my every move in here or what? Have they been watching us the entire time? If they were, what were they looking for?_

* * *

Kazuichi Soda watched the figures moving on the screen with rapt attention. The heroes, like termites, had invaded his factory and were steadily chipping away at their Monokuma’s numbers. In some cases, they even fell like dominoes. Tipping over one after the other, littering the floor black and white. Kinda like actual dominoes.

He ground his teeth with frustration as he watched them move and conquer the place with unparalleled ferocity and speed. He knew that the heroes had developed some sort of weapon to fight back against their mascot but _come on_. No one told him it was going to be _that_ powerful.

He was honestly kind of impressed.

There was some part of him that wanted to meet with the inventor of such a potent device… preferably with them being a prisoner of his. There was no way he’d give himself up to the Future Foundation willingly.

Soda shook those errant thoughts out of his mind as he watched the heroes onscreen move about. He was lucky. Oh yes, he was lucky indeed. He thought that Komaeda was the lucky one amongst them, but it seemed that the goddess of fortune had decided to smile on him just this once.

A group of hero students entered his factory. He could tell, just by the way they moved and communicated with one another, that they were all friends. He couldn’t hear any of them, no. But that was just the feeling he got as he watched from the cameras.

Soda sighed. What was this feeling of nostalgia? Had it really been so long since he saw the others? How long had he been cooped up in this place again? How many months had it been? Half a year, maybe more.

At the beginning, it was so that they could spread despair easier. And for a while, that worked. But now things have changed, the tides have started to turn, and the Future Foundation was slowly inching their way back and retaking key despair territory. In a sense, that made Soda winning here today all the more important.

He scoured the screens with eyes like a hawk. He needed to choose someone. Just one person. All he needed was a single person from the group of twenty that came. But who should he choose?

He needed someone strong, someone inspiring. He needed someone important to this class of theirs. So he could crush them under his boot like the insect they were.

What he needed, above all else, was a spectacle.

Soda scanned the monitors, hoping for one of them to finally catch his eye. He stopped and paused on a team. He watched them carefully. Soda’s eyes brightened to the point where they almost twinkled with despair. A maniacal grin spread across his face as he pushed a single, red button on the table.

* * *

_Man, how far down does this thing go? It really feels like we’ve been descending for a while. I guess this place must’ve been bigger than it looked from the outside, huh? Wonder what’s waiting for me down there, anyway? More Monokuma? My hacking gun still seems to be working, but will I be alright all by myself?_

* * *

“Aw man. More of them?” Kirishima groaned as he raised his weapon to shoot. “How many of these things are going to come at us?”

“Probably a lot. This is their home we’re invading after all.” Uraraka said. “In fact, I’m surprised this place isn’t even more protected.”

“Break!” Midoriya shouted then glanced at his teammates. “Yeah. If there were a couple of real people here along with all the Monokuma, we might be in a lot more trouble than we are right now.”

“For such an important part of their fighting forces to be unguarded… I wonder what Ultimate Despair is planning.” Tokoyami added. “I wonder if the others are experiencing the same thing that we are.”

They didn’t get to discuss matter further as a part of the wall slid up. The students looked at one another, then back at the machines that just stepped out of the alcove.

“What the- they’re huge!” Kirishima shouted.

The two giant Monokuma lumbered towards the students with a deceptively swift gait. Unlike the regular sized versions which typically stood at just below the height of an average human, the new Monokuma that just appeared easily dwarfed that. Standing at around twice the size of a normal human, they stared down at the heroes with lifeless eyes.

“Upupupupupu.” They laughed menacingly.

The student heroes stepped back and aimed their guns up, pointing the megaphones directly to their crooked red eye, the weak point that all Monokuma units up to that point had shared, and fired.

One of the shots hit, causing the giant robot to stumble slightly, but the other one sidestepped it as if it were no problem whatsoever.

“It dodged it?!” Kirishima was surprised.

“And the one that hit didn’t seem to do anything either.” Uraraka added. “Are these things immune to the hacking gun?”

“No, that’s not it.” Midoriya interjected. “It still reacted when the blast hit its eye. If it were immune, it wouldn’t have made any reaction. Which means… the AI in these things might be different than the regular ones. It might take more shots or a different bullet or something.”

“You mean these things were programmed with more hit points? Or some type of weakness or something? Why would Ultimate Despair do that?”

“Who knows?” Tokoyami said. “We should all know better than to apply reason and logic to any of Ultimate Despair’s actions. Let’s just focus on beating these guys like the rest of them. Dark Shadow!”

“On it!” Dark Shadow leapt out of Tokoyami’s body and scratched at the large Monokuma’s metallic hides. A sharp scraping noise could be heard. Dark Shadow looked back with tears in its eyes. “It’s tough!”

The robots came closer as the students inched backwards, leaving space between them and the enlarged claws.

“So these things are different than regular Monokuma in more ways than one.” Midoriya mused. “Tougher armour and larger claws. And a different reaction to the hacking gun too.”

“So? What’s the plan, Midoriya?” Kirishima asked.

Midoriya pressed his lips together. He didn’t think too long. “Keep your distance and keep shooting. Aim for the one on the left. It just got hit by a blast. It’ll be weaker. And stagger your shots. It won’t be able to dodge them as easily. Break!” Midoriya called out his orders and fired another shot at the Monokuma. It stumbled again while the other one continued its advance, undaunted.

The others readied their megaphones and fired.

* * *

“Gaaaah! What even are these things? They’re way too strong!” Mineta yelled as he tossed his quirk as fast as he could, attempting to stick the two large Monokuma robots that suddenly appeared. The robots stepped onto a pile of balls and proceeded to continue onward like it was nothing. A soft popping sound could be heard as their legs unstuck themselves.

“Yeah, these things are definitely tougher than the average bear.” Kaminari commented offhandedly as he fired off another blast. The hit landed, but only caused the larger Monokuma to stagger itself backwards, rather than fall down in a lifeless husk.

Mineta whipped his head at him. “Jokes, really? Is now really the time for that?!” He screeched while continuing to barrage the enemy with his quirk. They were getting slowed down, albeit just a little.

Kaminari arched an eyebrow. He was about to ask Mineta what he meant when Bakugou rained his anger down upon them.

“Will you idiots focus?!” He turned and shouted at them. Then he looked back at the larger Monokuma with a confident grin. “So, they decided to start taking us seriously. Good. Now die, assholes!”

A stream of hacking shots were fired from the team. One of them was sidestepped, but the rest all landed directly into the one of the left’s eye. As the last shot was absorbed, the giant Monokuma stood still. It lurched back and forth on its feet and collapsed on the ground, just like the other robots that had been taken out before it. A slight rumbling shook the factor floor while the Monokuma on the right seemed to ignore it entirely.

“Five shots.” Bakugou said loudly. “These things take five shots before they die!”

“Whaaat, seriously? What’s with these guys, anyway?” Kaminari wondered as he fought. “I mean, they’re super tough but how come no one’s ever seen them used outside of this place?”

“Maybe they were supposed to be a secret weapon.” Asui suggested.

“Just hurry up and fire!”

* * *

_No, I shouldn’t be thinking like that. I’ll be ready for whatever they throw at me, I’m sure of it. With the power of my quirk. Even if it isn’t the strongest, I won’t give in so easily. No matter what sort of danger awaits me when the elevator stops and the doors open, I’ll meet it head on._

* * *

Two giant Monokumas shut down at the same time. They were fully encased in Ice with only their heads sticking out. Todoroki was using his Fire half to heat himself back up while Jirou was caressing her ears. Ashido and Aoyama watched the stopped Monokuma with concerned faces.

Behind them, there was another chunk of Ice that they had previously broken out of using their superior strength. Upon seeing this, Todoroki had instantly shot forth another round of Ice using all of his power, thicker and more durable than the last.

The Monokuma attempted to struggle out of this one as well, but Jirou and the others managed to shoot them enough times to shut them down fast. Though cracks had already started to appear on the robotic bear’s frozen prison.

“So this is the type of firepower that Ultimate Despair has up their sleeves, huh?” Jirou muttered. “It’s pretty impressive.”

“But what are they doing hiding it out in a place like this?” Ashido wondered. “Shouldn’t something this strong be out there, tearing it up on the streets?”

“Maybe they don’t have enough of them to be used sparingly.” Todoroki said. “They may be far stronger than regular Monokuma, but they might also be more difficult to make. It’s possible that they’re supposed to be kept as a last resort.”

“It’s possible, but then…” Aoyama looked around the room. “How did they know to release them here and now? Could it be that there’s an enemy watching our every move since we came here?”

“Ugh, so there was someone spying on us the whole time?” Jirou grumbled. They looked around the room and her eyes caught on something. “Hey, what’s that?”

She pointed to a monitor that seemed to be attached to the wall. They moved for a closer look.

“The Future Foundation has stuff like this around as well.” Todoroki noted. “They’re used to broadcast videos as well as audio. So Ultimate Despair utilizes them as well.”

“And if I’m right… then that’s also a camera attached to it as well. That means they were watching us from this.”

Ashido stepped up to the wall-bounded monitor as best she could and glared at it. “Hey! Ultimate Despair! You listening to me? Why don’t you come out and fight us yourself, you coward? Instead of hiding back and letting your robots do all the hard work for you.”

The team waited, but there was no reaction.

“It doesn’t seem like they heard us.” Aoyama shrugged.

“Yeah, I thought that would be the case.” Ashido sighed and looked back at her team. “I wonder how the other teams are faring. They might have it tougher since they don’t have completely overpowered teammates.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Said Todoroki, who decided not to comment on Ashido’s remark. “We should be able to meet up with them soon enough. We just have to keep advancing.”

Nodding their affirmations, the group continued on.

* * *

_Oh, the elevator finally stopped moving. Took it long enough. Guess that means this is the end of the line. The doors are opening… time to see what Ultimate Despair has planned… huh? What is this place?_

* * *

“Die!” Bakugou shouted and the giant Monokuma teetered and fell, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

“Hah, these things’re a piece of cake.” Kaminari laughed, panting hard as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Just because they’re a little bigger than normal doesn’t mean much when going up against us.”

“Yeah. Size doesn’t mean everything!”

“Again. Phrasing.”

Bakugou’s team looked at the two fallen Monokuma and then at one another. The fight hadn’t been an easy one. Despite its large body, it moved deceptively fast and its metallic hide made it tougher than the normal ones.

In the end, however, they were both destroyed, and the heroes came out without a single scratch on them.

“Heh, those other teams better not be having any trouble with these weak shits.” Bakugou boasted.

“Heck, we don’t even know if the others are facing guys like these.” Kaminari noted.

“Or if they might be fighting even tougher enemies.” Asui said.

Bakugou looked at them, then gestured with a tilt of his head. “Whatever. Let’s just get going.”

* * *

Soda watched as the Jumbo Monokuma he built were all destroyed in the span of a few minutes. A sad twinge of despair bubbled out of him as he watched the monitors.

He had been saving those to impress the others. They were specially made and designed so that they’d be even tougher than a regular Monokuma. But to those heroes, it seemed, they were hardly worth fussing over.

Well, that wasn’t the case for all the heroes.

Soda giggled as he turned his attention back to the monitor he had been focusing on all this time. His hands whizzed around on a game controller, tapping buttons and flicking bumpers with despairing speed.

The other Jumbo Monokuma had all been set on automatic. They battled using their AI, and the results spoke for themselves. But Soda had was manually controlling one set of Monokuma, and their movements were far more unpredictable as a result.

Soda watched the monitor with his target on it. They were putting up a good fight, he had to admit that. Controlling two units at the same time wasn’t simple in the slightest. Slowly but surely, he would be whittled down by their superior tactics and coordination.

So it was a good thing that he was almost in position.

Soda grinned with sharp teeth as he watched the action unfold on the screen. There was no way that they had the firepower necessary to hold off an entire horde of heroes, even if they were just hero students like these guys. That much was plenty obvious just by looking at the immeasurable amounts of Monokuma bodies littering the floors.

But he didn’t need to kill all of them. Not immediately anyway. All he needed was a single person, singled out and targeted, in order to infect their minds with the same despair that had gotten him.

After all, the right person at the wrong place can make all the difference in the world…

His target was standing right where he needed. Closer… closer… there! Soda mashed his thumb down and the button clicked. He stared at the screen in anticipation. What happened next was…

* * *

“Gah!” Midoriya yelled as he was launched backwards by the Monokuma’s large fist.

“Deku!” Uraraka yelled, sparing a single glance before turning back towards the enemy.

“I’m fine!” The giant Monokuma lumbered its way closer to where Midoriya was. Kirishima was there, helping him up. He grunted in pain as his teammates all attempted to fire their shots into the other Monokuma’s jagged red eye. At every twist and turn, the giant killer robots had been able to duck, dodge, or weave their way out of their hacking gun shots.

Now, they finally had a clear shot at one of them. It was just standing there like a sitting duck. One hit connected, then another. It was almost too easy now. Almost as if it were plotting something…

It was Tokoyami who noticed it first. He drew his attention away from the stopped robot and back towards Kirishima and Midoriya who was facing the other Monokuma. Their backs were to the wall, so they didn’t notice it. But Tokoyami did.

The wall behind them had opened up, revealing a large entrance to a hidden space inside.

The other Monokuma was still moving. They couldn’t afford to look away like they did. “Watch out! Midoriya!” Tokoyami called out, but he wasn’t fast enough. Monokuma’s large fist was already swinging through the air.

“Look out!”

It all happened in an instant. One moment, Midoriya was watching helplessly as he braced for the impact of the Monokuma’s punch. The next moment he was on the floor, his side throbbing slightly from being pushed and Kirishima flying backwards into the open space in the wall.

Before they had a chance to process what had even happened, the walls slammed shut, trapping their friend inside.

“Kirishima!” Midoriya cried his name as he got back to his feet. He spared a single glance to the perfectly normal wall behind him, the place where his friend had disappeared to just a few moments ago before turning his attention back to the Monokuma.

It wasn’t moving.

Midoriya took a few steps back and fired a shot into its eye.

It still wasn’t moving.

Uraraka and Tokoyami shut down the other Monokuma and came to help with the one here but it still wasn’t doing anything. They decisively struck it down with a few shots before turning to one another.

“Midoriya, what happened?” Tokoyami asked. “I didn’t manage to see everything clearly.”

“Kirishima pushed me out of the way.” Midoriya stared bitterly at the wall behind them. “Then the wall closed in on him.”

The other two looked at one another, then at Midoriya. “He’ll be fine, right?” Uraraka comforted him, then quickly moved to the wall. She patted it a few times, testing it for potential openings. “With his quirk, he’ll be able to withstand whatever gets thrown at him. Right?”

Midoriya looked worried. He was about to say something when an unfamiliar voice interrupted them.

* * *

Soda watched the screen with abject horror as the wrong student was shoved into the elevator. He felt his blood run cold and his fingers grow numb. The other remaining heroes were attacking his Monokuma, but he didn’t bother to fight back as he did before. He let their hit points get taken down to zero and a flashy “GAME OVER” appeared on his screen in blocky letters.

Soda looked over at a different monitor, this one showing the inside of that insidious elevator. He saw the redheaded boy punching the elevator door, which slammed itself shut just a few moments after he was pushed in. He wouldn’t be strong enough to break it down, no one was.

It wasn’t supposed to be him. Soda shook his head as he ground his teeth in frustration. Komaeda. That darn Nagito Komaeda and his inane _obsession_ with that boy. He didn’t have fond memories of Komaeda even before they were Ultimate Despair. But somehow, he found himself trusting that weird brand of craziness he carried with him.

Soda watched as his intended target and his friends all banged on the wall that had swallowed their teammate. How close he had been. Soda glared at him. He was just this close to executing the perfect plan, the perfect plan to unleash untold despair upon these heroes.

Kirishima quickly opened a drawer and brought out a stack of photographs. They were photos that Koizumi had taken when she went to the Culture Festival. He skimmed through the stack containing class 1-A, stopping on the picture that best matched the redhead he had trapped.

“Eijirou Kirishima… quirk… Hardening?!” Soda felt his spirit slowly leave his body as he read about the boy’s name and quirk written on the back of the photo. He adjusted his beanie tentatively and growled. “What the hell do I do now?”

After tossing some ideas around in his mind, Soda begrudgingly activated the elevator and it started descending. As it did so, he also turned on the PA system. The speakers across every room in the factory came to life and started carrying his voice to the students.

* * *

“Listen up, heroes!” Came the voice from the speakers. “I do hope that you’ve been enjoying yourselves, traipsing around in my factory because that time is swiftly coming to an end.”

“Huh? What the hell is this guy on about?” Bakugou muttered.

“Because… dun da da duuun, take a look!” An image popped up on the monitors and the heroes’ eyes all widened in shock.

“Kirishima!” Kaminari ran up to the monitor to get a closer look. “What is… what is he doing? What’s happening?”

“This is… this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The jaw-dropping, curtain-raising, heart-pounding, thrill-inducing, despair-filled action packed joyride!” The voice continued. “It’s time for Eijirou Kirishima’s Punishment Time!”

Asui and Mineta stared at one another in confusion.

“Punishment Time? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t know.”

The elevator Kirishima was in suddenly stopped and its doors opened to a dimly lit room. Vines and fauna grew out from cracks on the walls and there seemed to be the same kind of monitors that had been in the factory above ground placed on the upper corner of nearly every turn.

The students watched with growing confusion and apprehension as Kirishima stepped out of the elevator, scanning his surroundings. A tense nervousness filled them as they wondered exactly what horrors were about to take place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today’s Ultimate Despair is Kazuichi Soda! I went a little softer on the hints last time, since I figured that if I mentioned a Monokuma factory, people would get it too easily.
> 
> Did you figure out who was in the elevator before it was revealed? And did you figure out Soda’s plan as well?
> 
> Next chapter: Punishment Time


	22. Chapter 22

Kirishima tentatively stepped out of the elevator, scanning his surroundings for danger. A familiar face popped up onto the numerous monitors that hung on the walls. Kirishima narrowed his eyes.

“Kazuichi Soda. The Ultimate Mechanic.” With pink hair, a yellow beanie, and sharp red eyes that were filled to the brim with despair, Kirishima matched the face before him to the name from his memories almost instantly. “Makes sense that he’d be in a place like this.”

The elevator behind him snapped shut. Kirishima turned around and saw only an unassuming grey wall. He already had his Hardening activated but the sudden noise raised his guard even more. He was nervous and on edge in this strange new place, especially with no one by his side.

“Eijirou Kirishima! Also known as the hero, Red Riot. Debuting while working with Fatgum and helping to stop a public shooting incident, he quickly made a name for himself as an unbreakable hero.” He tensed further as Soda’s amplified voice boomed across the mysterious corridors that Kirishima found himself in. “But now! Trapped in this deadly dungeon of um… deadly traps! This so-called unbreakable hero will meet his untimely demise in front of all his friends!”

“What?”

“That’s right!” Soda added. Whether or not he actually heard Kirishima’s question was a mystery. He raised his finger to the camera and pointed at the hero. “Every single one of your classmates are watching. They’re keeping track of your every move to see if you make it out of this maze alive. So don’t disappoint them!”

The image of Soda flickered off and Kirishima clicked his tongue. He looked around the hallways stretching out in front of him. There didn’t seem to be any Monokuma around so he holstered his hacking gun, freeing up his hands so that he can use his quirk on them as well.

Kirishima picked a direction and started walking, cautiously making his way forward.

* * *

A group of students ran through the halls, passing several monitors that all displayed the same exact scene. They spared only meagre glances at the action that was unfolding as they moved, they were much more focused on traversing the huge factory that they found themselves in.

Every so often, a scream or a cry of pain could be heard from the speakers. Every time it did, a pit of worry would form in their stomachs and they would briefly look nervously towards the nearest monitor to make sure that their friend was alright.

So far, it didn’t seem that Kirishima had been hurt too badly. He kept his quirk up and none of the traps that he encountered had so much as managed to chip his toughened skin. Let alone break through it and actually wound him. Still, it was an unconscious reaction to cry out when you were surprised or hurt, and due to Kirishima’s tendency to take hits head on, he was attacked at all sides by the vicious maze.

“Hey, what are you guys doing just standing around here?” Bakugou’s team had met up with Todoroki’s team while they were wandering. They found them idling around, watching the action unfold on a larger monitor. “Don’t you fucking care that Kirishima’s in danger?”

“Of course we care.” Todoroki replied calmly. “But running around like chickens with our heads cut off won’t do us any good. Right now, we’re discussing plans on how to save Kirishima.”

“Goddamnit! You need a plan? Here’s one.” Bakugou declared angrily. “We continue our original mission, get to the top and take the entire factory down.”

Todoroki’s confused face only persisted for a second. “I see. If we can get to where Soda is, we can get him to stop the factory and deactivate the weird death maze in one fell swoop. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“No shit.” Bakugou spat. “They clearly did this just to distract us. They want us to panic and to run around like chickens with our heads cut off when really, we should be finishing what we started: Finding the guy who runs this place.”

“Right, in that case-“

Todoroki was interrupted by another group of students entering. It was Midoriya, followed by Iida and Yaoyorozu, as well as their respective teammates. It seemed that their entire class had been able to regroup. All except one.

Todoroki spotted Yaoyorozu holding a strange device in her hands. No doubt it was a Creation that let her track down where all the other students were. He was about to say something when he was interrupted by a voice to his side.

“Oi Deku, what the fuck did you do?” Bakugou stormed up to Midoriya while glaring at him. Kirishima had been on his team, so it was Midoriya’s responsibility that he was in danger now. Midoriya glanced away shamefully, not meeting Bakugou’s eyes.

“It was my fault.” Midoriya admitted freely. “It was those large Monokuma-“

“ _Huuhhhh_?” Bakugou’s voice sounded incredibly disbelieving. “Them? Seriously? Those _things_ gave you trouble? They were just a little tougher than regular Monokuma, what’s the big deal?”

“Well, you see…”

“Damnit! You can’t even keep your own team members safe.” Bakugou snuck another glance to a nearby monitor before turning back to Midoriya. “How do you expect to help…”

Bakugou’s voice tapered off as he talked. Both he and Midoriya were avoiding each other’s gazes, scowling. For a split second, they were silent.

“Um, if I may interject.” Yaoyorozu suddenly raised her voice and all eyes turned to her. “Midoriya, you mentioned something earlier, when we found you. Didn’t you say that the Monokuma that you had been fighting were acting weird?”

Bakugou raised an eyebrow at Yaoyorozu’s comment, before staring at Midoriya, with a look on his face that urged him to explain further.

“U-uh, right!” Midoriya nodded. “It didn’t feel like we were fighting regular Monokuma. Their movements were too precise and had some semblance of intelligence to them. It felt like they were being controlled with someone.”

“The ones we fought didn’t seem that way at all.” Todoroki spoke up. “From the way they moved, they didn’t seem all that different than regular Monokuma. Besides how big they were, I mean.”

“We thought that as well.” Iida nodded. “When we met up earlier, we discussed what happened to Kirishima with Midoriya. It seems that they were the only ones to have had such a difficult encounter.”

“Yeah…” Midoriya hung his head. “The two of them divided us up. The wall behind us opened up and we didn’t even notice it. Tokoyami saw it but he was too far away to do anything. Kirishima knocked me out of the way of the attack but got pushed in himself.”

Hearing this, Bakugou pursed his lips. He took another glance at the monitor just to catch him be shot by a couple of iron balls directly in the chest. It didn’t seem like they hurt him much. But for a regular person, they might have been able to crack their ribs.

“Whatever.” Bakugou clicked his tongue. His earlier anger seemed to be quelled somewhat after learning about what went down.

“We were planning on continuing our ascension upwards to the top of the factory.” Yaoyorozu interrupted Bakugou’s thoughts as she addressed the class. “Care to join?”

Todoroki and Bakugou snuck glances at one another. They had been planning the same thing with their teams before the others arrived. It seemed that Midoriya confused this silence as confusion and stepped forward.

“We think that whatever’s controlling that maze will be-“

“Shut up!” Bakugou snapped. He started moving immediately to where the top was supposed to be located. “Let’s go!”

“…Right.”

* * *

“Shit!” Kirishima cried out as he dodged out of the way of a saw that came out of an opening in the wall. Two more came out of the floor, alternating left and right, forcing him to sidestep clumsily out of the way.

It wasn’t like he was particularly scared of what the saws might do to him. There was a good chance that the blades would take more damage than he would. But he wasn’t about to take that risk.

Kirishima had wandered down the various corridors of the maze slowly. This place was seriously dangerous. Briefly, he had wondered what kind of a madman would even think to _design_ a maze like this. Let alone actually build it. But he really shouldn’t put anything past Ultimate Despair. If he had been born with a different quirk that the one he had, he could’ve easily lost his life to any of the various hazards that hit him.

A row of spikes that popped out of the floor only served to push him off balance. Though they easily could’ve gone through someone’s foot. A barrage of iron balls struck his chest stung a little, though they carried enough force to break a regular person’s ribs. A giant boulder started rolling towards him and…

Okay, he was running.

Seriously, what was this, Indiana Jones? Kirishima ducked down a corridor as the boulder rolled harmlessly past him. He let out a sigh of relief. A boulder that big and he would’ve turned into a rocky, redheaded pancake.

Or… would he have? Kirishima frowned. Wasn’t that boulder actually travelling really slow? Sure, there wasn’t much of an incline in the hallway, but then why did they include a trap like that in the first place? At the rate it was going, he could’ve probably outran it even while walking.

Actually, come to think of it, weren’t most of these traps fairly weak to begin with? Soda had made it sound like he was going to die down here if he made even the slightest misstep. But in terms of lethality, it had all been on the low side.

As Kirishima was thinking this, a needle shot out of the wall and tried to impale itself in his leg. Instead, it harmlessly bounced to the ground. He looked at it on the ground and sighed.

“Seriously, what’s with this place?” Kirishima muttered, then shook his head. “No, I should be careful. It’d be way too embarrassing to die to some stupid trap after looking down on them.”

Being a hero was a dangerous job. At any given point, whether it be facing down a villain or aiding in a rescue effort, they could make the slightest slip up and end up paying the ultimate price. Sometimes it was quick. Just one wrong decision or a single misstep could end up costing them their lives.

Kirishima knew this, and he also knew that he had to stay vigilant. Just one mistake could end up with him losing everything. Kirishima side stepped another trap, a pitfall that opened to reveal a bed of spikes and ducked underneath a swinging axe with expert reflexes.

Kirishima smiled as he successfully survived another trap, then shook himself to regain his seriousness. He wasn’t going to die. That was what he had decided. He wasn’t planning on dying here, in a dark place far underground with no friend by his side.

No matter what Kazuichi Soda had in store for him, he was going to survive it. If he wanted his friends to watch him die then he was just going to have to be disappointed. Filled with resolve, Kirishima ventured onwards, deeper into the maze.

* * *

“Shit!” Soda cried out as he watched Kirishima dodge out of the way of a speeding saw. His mood grew worse and worse as he watched him go through the maze like it was nothing. Why, oh _why_ did he have to push _him_ down instead of Midoriya?

He tore his beanie off and threw it on the floor in a fit of rage. A couple seconds passed, and he quickly picked it up, dusted it off, and placed it back on his head, looking around to make sure that no one was watching. Facing the screen, he growled again.

Literally anyone else would’ve been better. That girl with the round face, that guy with the bird head. Even if he missed Midoriya, they both would’ve been excellent candidates for execution. But no. Instead, he had to get Kirishima of all people.

“Ohh…” He groaned. Kirishima just ran past the boulder and a thin needle bounced off of his hardened skin. He couldn’t bear to watch any further. Depressed, Soda turned his attention to the heroes and the pit in his stomach sank even further.

“It’s like they don’t even care…” Soda watched them group up and continue on their mission to get to his control room, the room he was in right now. “At the very least, shouldn’t they be feeling a little despair right now? It doesn’t have to be full on despair, just… even just a little is fine.”

Failure. He was nothing but a failure. Enoshima had said something about disappointment, and how it didn’t give her the same rush as despair did. She loved despair, but hated disappointment. Well, that was exactly what Soda was right now. A disappointment and a failure.

Where did he go wrong? Was this battle destined to be a loss no matter what he did? He groaned pitifully and glanced to the communications device he had built.

How was he going to face Kuzuryu like this? Or any of his classmates? They were probably so much more successful than he was in dealing with heroes when they encountered them. He would be an utter laughingstock compared to them.

He recreated the death maze that Enoshima used to execute Nanami. He tried to set up the conditions perfectly. It was just Kirishima that- No, that wasn’t quite right. Soda shook his head. It wasn’t just that one mistake that cost him, it was everything.

No matter how much Komaeda gushed about Midoriya, no matter how much he saw in him as some future Symbol of Peace to take after All-Might. Soda scoffed. _Really? Him?_ Even his successful execution wouldn’t have done the same to the student heroes as Nanami’s death to him and his classmates.

Midoriya wasn’t someone who united his class like Nanami was. There was no way his death would hit as hard as hers did to them. Adding onto that, they were all heroes. Not a group of misfits like them who had nothing to lean on but their own ultimate talents.

He wanted Midoriya’s death to be a catalyst for their own despairs. Then they’d be too distracted to fight back as he sent more and more Monokuma at them, before finishing them off himself. It sounded like a perfect plan on the surface, but that obviously didn’t hold up.

Soda brought his gaze back to Kirishima and noted how close he was to the exit.

“Just one more trap… just one more and…” Soda’s head hit the table lifelessly. “Ugh… what’s the point.”

* * *

“Shit, is this really it?” Kirishima said excitedly as he stared at the door ahead of him. A small door tucked away in a tiny alcove, it had the word “GOAL” hastily painted onto it. Kirishima started to walk towards it. “But for all I know this could just be a trick…”

Kirishima shook his head and soldiered onwards. “But I still gotta try at least.” He reached his hand out to the doorknob. He stopped just as he was about to grip it. “Wait, what if there’s poison on here?”

He frowned. “Can I even be poisoned through my quirk?” He sighed. “Guess I’ve no choice but to find out.”

Turning the knob, the door pushed open. There was an almost blinding light shining through the doorway as Kirishima stepped through. What met him on the other side was…

* * *

The group of students made their way through the factory at record pace, far quicker than they had done previously. This newfound speed could be partly attributed to the worries they had for their friend. Though most of it should be attributed to a different matter altogether.

“Hey, has anyone noticed that the Monokuma have been showing up less and less recently?” Kaminari pointed out. “Like, none at all in fact.”

“It’s certainly strange.” Ojiro agreed. “Maybe they’re focusing their attention on Kirishima?”

“It can’t be that hard to release more Monokuma.” Hagakure wondered. “Wait, can it?”

“Who knows. We should just count this as a blessing and continue onwards.” Shoji said. One of the eyes he created seemed to have picked up on something and directed itself at the monitor. “Hm?”

Quickly, the heroes all turned their attentions to Kirishima.

“He’s at the exit? Does that mean he’s safe?” Uraraka whispered.

“We can’t be sure yet.” Midoriya said. “We have to keep watching.”

The class’ tension was high as Kirishima slowly opened the door. A white light filled the screen as he stepped through the open doorway.

* * *

“Arrgh, it’s too damn bright.” Kirishima muttered as he stepped into the new room. He didn’t know what he had been expecting would be waiting for him when he finally got out of that maze, but lights that were strong enough to blind him temporarily certainly wasn’t it.

Kirishima held his arm ahead of him while he squinted. The harsh light searing his retinas seemed to be the only reward for finding his way through that maze. Slowly, he walked further into the room, closing the door behind him.

A soft whirring sound could be heard as he walked. But Kirishima didn’t pay any attention to that. As he walked, the lights gradually grew dimmer and dimmer, until finally they were at an appropriate level to see with.

Kirishima blinked a few times haphazardly as he let his eyes adjust to the new lighting. Slowly, the rest of the room faded into view.

“Oh crap.”

There was nothing quite as frightening as staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. The immediate panic, followed by slow, rising fear accompanied with the knowledge that your life was in terrible danger. Your muscles loosen, your mouth goes dry. Your mind starts racing with thousands upon thousands of possible courses of action while at the same time, coming up with nothing. There is nothing worse than staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.

Well, perhaps staring down the barrels of several loaded guns could be a tad worse.

Kirishima gulped as several dozen machine guns, all mounted onto the walls, were trained upon him. It seemed the noise he heard earlier was the sound of the weaponry swiveling to track his every move.

Kirishima froze. His eyes darted around the room as his mind went into overdrive. Would his quirk protect him from all that? Maybe he could do something about all those machine guns. His quirk wasn’t a long range one so he couldn’t destroy them from where he was standing. They were tracking him somehow, was it body heat? Was there some way to cool himself down or-

Without warning, they started firing.

* * *

The students were on the edge of their proverbial seat. With their journey to find the control room on pause, every eye was glued to the screen. Some of them held their breaths while others wrung their hands with worry.

There had been a collective gasp between the class when they first saw what horrors had been awaiting Kirishima after he found the so-called exit. Some cried out in anger and protest against the seemingly unfair nature of this labyrinth. They knew that they shouldn’t have expected Ultimate Despair to play by the rules, but they needed to take their frustrations out on someone.

A few of them flinched as the first gun started firing. Then the second. Then, after some time, every single one joined in. They attacked from all angles, from the front, back, side, and even above, they rained in bullets directly onto their friend’s body.

The rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire came out loud and clear on the speakers, accompanied with a smattering of casings ejected onto the hard floor. But none of it was as loud as Kirishima’s primal screams. The sound was painful to hear, but at the same time, it was important. The screams meant that he was still alive.

Clouds of dust flew out of Kirishima as the bullets collided with his skin. Shards of rock chipped out and fell onto the floor. He was covering his head and neck with his arms wrapped tightly around him, his body as hard as can be with the Red Riot Unbreakable form that he developed. The students couldn’t see very clearly what was going on due to all the dust and debris flying around. They didn’t have any idea what sort of shape their friend was in currently.

After what seemed like an eternity, the weapons finally stopped firing. With smooth and intricate movements, the machine guns casually and neatly tucked themselves away into the wall as silence filled the room. But that wasn’t what they were focused on. Everyone was clambering over one another to see what had happened. Even though the gun fire had ended, the monumental dust cloud that had been kicked up still had yet to dissipate.

All they could see was the soft silhouette of Kirishima with no discerning details. The students hoped and prayed that he was alright. Normally, getting hit by over a dozen machine guns would easily be a fatal injury. But not for someone like Kirishima… right?

He was no longer screaming, but he was still standing. Surely that had to mean something. In their minds, they urged their friend to say something, anything to let them know that he was okay.

Slowly, the dust settled.

* * *

Soda sat on the edge of his seat watching the action unfold. When the guns ran out of bullets he cursed but didn’t tear his eyes away from the screen for even a moment.

He watched the hero take in bullet after bullet from all sides and fumed, realizing that there was _still_ a chance it wouldn’t be enough to take him down.

Soda felt untold amounts of rage and anger as he recalled Nanami, impaled by over a dozen spears right in front of their eyes. This time he didn’t use spears. He installed wall-mounted machine guns at the end of the maze, just to make sure that whomever made it through didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of making it out alive.

Oh, how naïve he was.

If the situation had been even the slightest bit different, he might have been able to enjoy himself. He could’ve sipped some juice, munched on some snacks as he watched one of those unlucky heroes get torn asunder by bullet fire.

Maybe if he installed a hydraulic press or something that lowered the ceiling until it crushed the unwitting victim, or maybe a vat of acid, or shocked them with a ton of electricity or…

No, that wasn’t any good. He wanted whomever that entered that room to be _ripped apart_ in front of all of their allies, their friends. He wanted their final memories of them to be filled with nothing but bloodshed and gore as they died there, in a dark place far underground with no friend by their side. Most importantly, he wanted to make sure there was a blood-soaked corpse for them to stare at.

Their last memories of them would not be a peaceful one.

Soda’s mind raced with possibilities as he watched the screen. The guns have stopped but there was still a large cloud of dust that obscured the cameras’ vision. Silently, Soda hoped and prayed that Kirishima was dead. Not even _he_ could survive a barrage like that… right?

Slowly, the dust settled.

* * *

Kirishima remained standing, his arms wrapped around his head and neck to protect them from the gunfire. His skin, especially along his arms and torso was cracked at parts, dripping with blood. He slowly stood up from an awkward crouching position and lowered his arms.

He looked up at the walls, now barren of the heavy weaponry that were there before. His hair was disheveled, his hero costume reduced almost to rags, and he was breathing more than heavily. But one thing was for certain, he was alive.

The screaming at the factory was deafening.

“Hell yeah! That’s right damnit! I knew you could do it!” Kaminari yelled out loud amidst all the cheering and the noise.

“Kirishima! You… you did it!” Midoriya cried.

“I’m so very glad he’s alright.” Kouda added quietly.

There was no end to the celebration at hand. Like a dam collapsing due to the force of the water it’s trying to hold back, the students there failed to hold back their tension any longer. The collective breath that they had all been holding was taken in all at once, leaving some of them lightheaded and dizzy.

There were hugs and high-fives all around. It was as if in that one moment, all that was terrible in the world had vanished, and there was only joy.

Ashido pushed her face right up next to the camera attached to the monitor and grinned. “How about that, Ultimate Despair? You won’t be able to beat us that easily!” She playfully stuck her tongue out at the camera, taunting whoever could be watching and not feeling even the slightest bit silly in doing so.

Almost as if in response to her actions, the feed of Kirishima suddenly cut out, and was replaced with a black screen that reflected the smiling UA students. Smiles that quickly transitioned to confusion.

“Huh? Did this thing break or something?” Ashido slapped the monitor a few times, attempting to use percussive maintenance to fix it.

Yaoyorozu giggled. “It’s likely that that was all they had prepared. Now that their plan has failed, they want to hide their shameful defeat.”

“Ha! What sore losers they are.” Jirou said smugly.

The heroes were starting to calm down. They looked at one another as the excitement slowly faded away, and their sense of duty came rushing back.

Bakugou was the first to regain his senses. “Alright, fuck! We’ve still got a member of Ultimate Despair to take down!” Catching everyone’s attention with an Explosion, he smiled devilishly at the rest of them. “I’m gonna enjoy wiping the floor with this guy’s face.”

“Aside from the violence, I agree with Bakugou.” Iida nodded. Smiling as he called the class’ attention. “We can’t let ourselves be distracted by this juncture here. We still have a mission to accomplish.”

The rest of the class cheered, and they set off, once again as a group towards their destination.

* * *

Kirishima’s fingers trembled with nervous excitement as he looked up. He was breathing heavily, taking in ragged breaths as the adrenaline finished coursing through his veins. He had been holding his breath during the entirety of that barrage, steeling himself against the heavy damage he had been receiving from all around him as he channelled all his strength into maintaining his Unbreakable.

Kirishima inspected his body. Parts of rough skin had been chipped off due to the force of the bullets, while other parts suffered minor cuts and he was bleeding in several places.

“Haha…” A quiet laugh escaped his lips which startled him. Once he realized that the noise came from him, he relaxed. He looked around him, observing the room quietly. The walls were pretty much covered in bullet holes. It appears that they deflected off of his body and bounced right back out into the surroundings. The only places on the wall that weren’t destroyed were the portions that hid the machine guns behind them.

A sudden surge of exhaustion rushed through him and Kirishima fell to his knees. Every single muscle in every single one of his limbs were sore. He tried to move his arm, but he just couldn’t stop shaking.

“Wooooo! Yeeeaaah! I did it!” Kirishima made use of the only muscle he had left, his lungs. He tilted his head backwards and screamed towards a monitor. Surprisingly, they weren’t destroyed with all the mayhem that had been occurring around them. Turns out they were sturdier than he gave them credit for. “Ahahaha! Take that Ultimate Despair! That’s right, I did it! I survived! I survived, damnit!”

There was no response.

Slowly, with his muscles screaming in protest, Kirishima stood himself back up. He wanted desperately to go back to his room at the Heights Alliance. Or back home with his parents. He just wanted to chug a glass of water, lie on his bed, and rest his tired body.

But he couldn’t.

Despite there not being any dangers present, he was still in a perilous position. He was separated from his team, and he no idea where they were. He quickly swept his surroundings, looking for a possible exit. Hopefully, one that didn’t lead him to a pit of sharks or something.

The lights remained just bright enough to light up the room at a comfortable degree and Kirishima was quite thankful they remained that way.

There was a rather large elevator on the opposite side of the room. It blended in nicely with the walls around it. So well, in fact, that he probably wouldn’t have been able to spot it if he wasn’t looking for it.

Taking a few tentative steps, Kirishima made his way to the elevator and pressed a button. There wasn’t any indicator showing what floor it was on, but he could hear the faint sounds that usually accompanied a moving elevator. So all he had to do was wait.

Eventually, there was a soft ding and the doors opened.

Before he could react, Kirishima was greeted by a giant fist to the face knocking him backwards and onto the floor.

“Damn you!” An angry but familiar voice could be heard as he sailed backwards from the blow. “Damn you and your stupid quirk!”

The ground almost seemed to shake as Kirishima quickly picked himself up. His eyes widened as he realized exactly just what hit him.

“Whoa…” Kirishima whispered out in awe. Despite the circumstances, he couldn’t help but be impressed.

With death in his eyes, Kazuichi Soda stood before him inside of a fully functional battle armour.


	23. Chapter 23

“You ruined everything!” Soda yelled as Kirishima tried to get up. “All that planning, and for what? For you and your stupid overpowered quirk to just waltz in here and breeze through the maze like it was nothing? You should’ve been dead! Why aren’t you dead?”

“I’m not really sure how you want me to answer that.” Kirishima shakily held his fists up in a defensive position. He was still tired from everything that happened earlier, and his nose tingled with pain from where Soda punched him. “But if it’s a fight you want, then...”

“Oh, this won’t even be close to a fight.” Soda declared. The mech suit started walking slowly towards Kirishima and the ground rumbled. “I’m gonna tear you limb from limb! Just you wait!”

Kirishima narrowed his eyes and pushed his quirk’s power up even further. “Bring it.”

* * *

The other students stood back as Bakugou raised his gauntlets up to the locked door. With a single blast, the door flew clean off its hinges and fell back into the room, splintering and cracked. The students rushed in, ready for whatever their pink-haired opponent could do. They were going to make him pay for what he tried to do to Kirishima. Only, there was a slight problem.

The room was empty.

They looked around. But there was hide nor hair of the Ultimate Despair member they saw on the screen earlier. Yaoyorozu went over to a chair placed in front of the many monitors and felt it.

“It’s still warm.” She announced. “We must have just missed them.”

“Damn!” Kaminari swore.

“What do we do now?” Hagakure asked.

“It looks like this place is in charge of the whole building.” Midoriya said. “Looks like that guy, Soda, left us everything in his attempt to get away. We might be able to dig up some information on Kirishima’s whereabouts if we look around here.”

“On the other hand, we might be better off looking around the entire building.” Ashido suggested. “If we keep a few people here, then nothing’s going to pop out and attack us out there. We could search for Kirishima that way.”

The other students agreed, and they were split into two groups. One would stay behind and investigate the room, while the others would search the entire factory for anything suspicious, as well as any signs of their friend.

* * *

“Take that!” Soda screamed as Kirishima’s rocky body impacted the wall. Kirishima rubbed his stomach where he was hit and groaned as he got back up on his feet. He lifted his face to get a good look at Soda and his mech suit. Soda, on the other hand, sneered at him from inside.

It didn’t look like he did any tangible amount of damage to it. Not even from the almost shameful amount of times he was hit head on by its various attacks. Now Kirishima was battered and bruised and Soda didn’t even have a scratch on him.

“Ha! Had enough?” Soda called out from inside the mech. “Well, too bad! Cause I’m not going to let up even if you beg me to. I’m gonna enjoy showing your bloody, disassembled corpse to all your friends. And then, when they all fall into despair, I’ll kill them too!”

Soda raised his arms and the mech suit followed along. It’s fingers lifted up and missiles shot out of them, directly at Kirishima. He didn’t even have to time to block before they exploded on his sides, leaving bigger and bigger cracks on his skin.

Soda chuckled as he slowly approached the injured hero. Kirishima could barely keep himself standing but was doing so anyway through sheer will and determination. Soda’s arms shot forward and grabbed Kirishima by the sides. As soon as he was locked in, the mech’s fingers, like drills, started spinning, digging deep into Kirishima’s hard exterior.

“Aaaaahhhh!!!” Kirishima screamed in pain. The drills were digging deeper and deeper into him, pretty soon they’ll make their way into his flesh. He grabbed at the mech’s hands with his own, grimacing in pain as he did. Using all his strength, he pried open Soda’s grip just enough for him to slip out from inside it.

He was running from even before he hit the floor. Kirishima scrambled away from the mad mechanic as fast as he could but found himself tripping as a sudden force yanked one of his leg backwards. He turned and saw a long rope that shot itself out of the mech suit’s wrists.

Immediately, he began to scrape his arm across it, using friction to cut through it and take back his leg. Rolling out of the way just in time to avoid Soda slamming his mech’s fists directly into the ground. The entire floor shook and Kirishima struggled to keep his stomach from churning.

In a moment of anger, Kirishima raised a fist directly at Soda. The attack stopped short just in front of the villain’s face, blocked by a barrier of protective glass. Quickly, before Kirishima could retract his fist, Soda grabbed the hero’s outstretched arm and raised him up like he was dangling a caught fish.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Soda asked tauntingly. Using his other arm, he punched Kirishima hard in the ribs, causing him to sputter and spit out a bit of blood. “Man, I really should’ve done this first.”

“So why didn’t you?” Kirishima asked, defiant to the end.

“Because I had to let you go through what she did!” Soda yelled in response. The reply was incomprehensible to Kirishima. Who was this “she” that Soda was referencing? But Kirishima didn’t get a chance to ponder that when he was suddenly flung far to the ground like month old laundry.

“You’re tired, aren’t you? Exhausted? Out of breath?” Soda asked. “See, that’s the thing with humans. We get tired. Machines don’t. Whether they’re at full battery or just about to run out, they’ll keep on working just the same. That puts you at a disadvantage.”

Kirishima tried to say something, but he was still gasping for breath. It took everything he had in him just to push himself up off the floor.

Soda sighed as he watched this sight. “Man, this feels great. You know that? I was feeling pretty down earlier, about how I wasn’t able to do anything right. Felt like the odds of the whole world was stacked against me. But now? Now I feel great!”

“Always... happy to help...” Kirishima spat. He was tossed pretty far away from Soda and hit his back against the wall. He was holding himself steady with one hand pressed against the wall, and another pushing up against his knee. Even from far away, Soda’s mech looked intimidatingly large.

The mech’s legs thumped on the ground as it adjusted itself to face Kirishima directly. Soda watched him from inside with a savage look on his face. “Y’know? I think it’s about time we end this. What do you say?”

He bent down, readying the mech’s fists for one final blow. Engines started whirring as Kirishima looked on.

Soda watched as Kirishima helplessly struggled to stay standing. He lifted his face to look at him, with eyes like a wounded tiger, ferocious and unrelenting.

“Man, you heroes sure are a tenacious bunch, aren’t you?” Soda said. “I was sure you’d be in tears by now. Begging me to spare your life or something. Oh well, wasn’t going to anyway.”

Kirishima clenched his fist and forced himself to stand up, his body swaying with fatigue. “Actually, Soda. I’d say you’re right about one thing.”

“Hm?” Soda frowned. He hadn’t been expecting to hear that. “What about?”

“People get tired, but machines don’t.” Kirishima gulped. “Ah... that is to say, my body is a bit tired right now. And slightly injured. All things that put me at a disadvantage in our fight just now. But you know, something that humans over machines is that they can get stronger. My tired muscles will heal, and they’ll be replaced with even stronger ones over time. That doesn’t come so easily for pieces of metal like your suit.”

“Uhhh, yeah. I guess.” Soda admitted. “But that doesn’t mean much when I’m going to kill you right here and right now. You won’t get a chance to heal at all!”

“Let me finish.” Kirishima groaned. “Yes, _those_ muscles won’t get a chance to come back stronger. But those aren’t the muscles I’m talking about. C’mon, you can figure it out, right? I’m talking about my quirk!”

“Huh? Your quirk?”

“Everywhere I get hit while it’s activated will grow back even stronger.” Kirishima explained. “And believe me, I took a _bunch_ of hits earlier.” Their gazes drifted briefly to the spent casings on the floor.

“Red Riot Unbreakable!” Kirishima shouted and Hardened skin spread like a wildfire throughout his body. Bits of rock protruding and jutting out at various angles. Kirishima stood proudly, his magnificent super move on display against a speechless Soda. “How do you like that? Think your machine can take me on? Bring it!”

For a moment, Soda said nothing. Kirishima briefly wondered if he was about to give up then and there. Then, he started laughing.

“Ahahahahaha! Wahaha! Haha haaa hahaha...” Soda laughed uproariously from where he was in the mech. He twisted his body and the mech followed suit, pointing at Kirishima while clutching its metallic stomach. “Seriously? _That_ _’_ _s_ your trump card? Uh, hello? Ever heard about a little strategy called ‘waiting it out’? You don’t seriously think I’m dumb enough to charge at you while you’re at full strength, do you? Man, what a joke!”

“Kinda hoped you would...”

“So how long does that thing last, anyway? Ten, twenty seconds?” Soda jeered.

“A minute!” Kirishima yelled, offended at Soda’s low-ball guesses.

“Ah, what? Seriously?” Soda was taken aback. “Guess I’ve got no choice but to wait.”

The minute quickly passed with Soda keeping a watchful eye on Kirishima for the entire duration of his special form. Creaking noises came from the hero and slowly his body reverted back to its normal Hardened texture. Soda let out a satisfied grunt and readied his controls.

The mech took a few tentative steps on the ground as it prepared. Kicking off with a force so ferocious that it shook the room, Soda charged right at Kirishima. With a single robotic fist raised above his head, he was ready to end the hero in this final hit.

Kirishima watched the villain approach from where he was standing. He watched and waited for Soda to draw near. The mech suit reached blazing speeds as it accelerated even further. Yet still Kirishima did nothing but watch as his impending doom drew closer and closer. Kirishima did nothing but wait.

He needed to find the perfect moment to act.

In astrophysics, the event horizon was the outer boundary of a black hole in which nothing could escape its pull. The required escape velocity necessary to counteract the pull of the black hole inside its event horizon is greater than even the speed of light. Meaning not even light was fast enough to escape.

Similarly, with the rate at which Soda’s mech accelerated towards Kirishima, it was building up so much velocity that not even it, no matter how strong or durable its various systems were, would be able to stop itself from the path its pilot had decided on.

Kirishima knew that he wouldn’t be able to fight something like that head on in a fight of pure strength. He didn’t have the offensive capabilities to put in more than a few dents and scratches. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t even fighting at top conditions.

So Kirishima feigned injury. He pretended to be weaker than he actually was, more tired than he actually felt in order to lull Soda into a false sense of security. Yelling and groaning every time he was hit, his legs buckling as he tried to stand back up, all of it a calculated act to throw Soda off his game.

But that didn’t mean that Kirishima wasn’t affected by Soda’s attacks. He was right, of course. Trying to wear down a machine until it was out of juice was an idiotic idea. If Kirishima had simply let Soda get off hit after hit like he had been doing, he would’ve eventually lost consciousness. His Hardening would dissolve, and Soda would crush him like a bug.

So, he needed to devise a plan. One that would convince Soda to attack the way Kirishima wanted him to. One large attack with the intent on finishing him off.

That was where the Unbreakable came in. The real reason he showed it off in front of Soda wasn’t an attempt to beat his mech in a battle of pure strength. It was to implant the idea of ending the entire fight in _one, big attack_. One blow in which he put everything he had into it. Just one hit against a seemingly immobile and severely weakened enemy.

Soda fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

Kirishima watched as Soda approached. Like staring down a locomotive barrelling down the railway, Kirishima grit his teeth as he waited for his perfect opportunity.

Closer... a bit closer... one more second and...

There!

Like a coiled spring, Kirishima leapt. Dropping the guise of the injured hero, Kirishima jumped and rolled out of the way of Soda’s incoming attack. Soda barely had the opportunity to process this development as his mech suit went straight past Kirishima. He was going too fast and couldn’t change directions fast enough. He missed Kirishima by a just hair and ran right into, and through, the wall.

* * *

“What’s going on?” Uraraka cried out as she steadied herself near a wall.

“I’m not sure, I think it might be an earthquake.” Midoriya said.

“No… it doesn’t quite feel like an earthquake.” Tokoyami seemed hesitant. “It feels too forceful. It’s almost as if something’s shaking just the building. But what could it be?”

The trio looked around, as if the answer could be anywhere in their immediate vicinity. But the truth came from far below the ground, along with the friend they’re trying to find.

* * *

The shaking was like none Kirishima had ever felt before in his life. He was knocked to his knees and knelt on the ground. He covered his eyes to protect against all the debris that flew out as a result of the collision, desperately keeping his quirk active to keep himself safe against threats.

Finally, it was over, and everything became still again. Fighting off immense dizziness, Kirishima stood up to take a look at the wreckage. He let out a low whistle, impressed at the damage that Soda’s mech had caused in the wall.

The most striking feature that Kirishima noticed was the massive gaping hole. A large pile of collapsed rubble was stacked in a pile, and what seemed to be the mech’s feet were sticking out in a comical fashion.

Kirishima went over to the pile to check up on Soda’s status. He nudged the robotic feet that were sticking out. They didn’t react.

Without hesitation, Kirishima began climbing the mountain of rubble. He dug through the pieces and bits of the broken wall, sweeping them aside until he found what he had been looking for. There, encased in glass, was an unconscious Kazuichi Soda.

Kirishima cleared out a bit more of the rubble and knocked on the glass panel. Soda didn’t respond. Frowning, Kirishima began to look for a way to open the mech up.

Inside of the cockpit of the mech suit, Soda’s mind was racing. He had been panicking on deciding what to do after he was tricked by Kirishima until he heard someone crawling around on the rubble above him. In a moment of abject horror, Soda closed his eyes and went limp, pretending to be unconscious. Now, he was listening to the sounds of the hero above mucking about with his now destroyed mech.

A bead of sweat appeared on Soda’s brow. What was he gonna do? How did Kirishima even manage to trick him like that? One minute he was at death’s door, the next he was totally fine! It’s utterly preposterous!

Now he’s trapped underground with that maniacal hero with no way out. Oh god, that was why he was trying to open the cockpit, wasn’t he? So he could get answers on Ultimate Despair from him. They were gonna drag him to the Future Foundation base and torture him until he begged for mercy, then torture him some more just because they can!

Soda bravely fought down the urge to whimper.

The glass pane suddenly popped open. The mech was designed so that it could be opened from the outside if it detected damage or if it weren’t currently running. Kirishima must have found the button that let him do that.

“There we go.” Kirishima mumbled menacingly. From what Soda could hear, he was getting closer. Leaning into the cockpit and reaching his arms forward. “Are you alright?”

Soda felt a hand touch his shoulder. That was when he leapt into action. While simultaneously screaming “DIEEE!!!” Soda leaned forward and pressed his fingertips where he predicted Kirishima’s neck would be. His fingers morphing into tiny drills that whirred with blazing speed.

“Ow my fingers!” Soda screamed a few moments later. Soda blew cold air on his fingers after his attempt to drill through Kirishima’s rock hard skin with his quirk.

A hand shot out and grabbed Soda by the collar of his shirt.

“Hey, let go of me!” Soda thrashed and struggled. He tried to wrench the arm away, but he just wasn’t strong enough. He could feel himself get lifted out of the cockpit of the mech, carried down off the rubble, and thrown onto the cold, hard floor.

“Damn you!” Soda cried. He looked up at Kirishima’s triumphant face from where he was sitting. “What do you want from me, damnit?”

“Well for one, we’re gonna take you in.” Kirishima finally spoke. “Hopefully, you can tell us important information on Ultimate Despair. I hear rumours that you and your classmates know a bit more than the other rank and file members of Ultimate Despair.”

“Damnit…” Soda muttered. “I’m not telling you anything!” He yelled and started to bring his hand to his neck. His fingers morphed again into razor-sharp knives that threatened to cur through his throat.

“Hey! Stop that!” Kirishima grabbed his arm just in time. Then the other arm as well. “Quit it, alright?”

“N-no…” Soda muttered in defiance. “I don’t want to betray my friends.”

“No, like… I get that, but…” Kirishima said. “You and your friends are a bunch of murdering psychopaths. Are those really people that you want to protect?”

“Yes, of course!”

Kirishima sighed. “Never mind.” He hauled Soda up to his feet, and with one hand, kept both of Soda’s arms restrained lest he tried to kill himself again. He dragged him over to the elevator and pressed the button. Then they waited.

They waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Then they waited a little bit longer.

Then Kirishima pressed the button a bunch of times.

“What the hell! Why isn’t it working?”

“You must have broken it.” Kirishima could feel Soda shrugging in his grip. “Maybe when you crashed through that wall over there.”

“What the- you broke that wall!” Kirishima shouted indignantly.

“Yeah, but you tricked me into running into it.” Soda countered. “So, it’s like you broke it. Really, it makes sense if you think about it.”

“Arrgh, just shut up!” Kirishima shook him. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be a mechanic or something? Can’t you fix it?”

Soda turned his head to look Kirishima in the eye. “Huh? Why would I do anything to help you? As far as I’m concerned, this is the best thing that could ever happen to me. Now, you won’t be able to bring me back to the Future Foundation and we’ll both starve together down here. Now that’s an end that’s chock full of despair!

Ah, wait. You’re not gonna try and eat me, are you?” Soda looked shocked for a moment, then regained himself. “Well, I mean… I guess going out like that would also bring despair in its own way.”

“Ugh! Gross, dude!” Kirishima made a disgusted face at Soda’s suggestion. “I’m definitely not gonna eat you!”

“Well, don’t be so sure. Hunger can make a guy do some crazy things.” Soda mused. “Hey, if you’re not gonna eat me, can I eat you instead? I mean, not if you’re gonna do that thing with your skin and make it all rocky and stuff-“

“Just quit it, alright?! No one’s eating anyone here!” Kirishima kicked Soda in the shins which caused him to drop to his knees.

“Rude!” Soda complained. “And hey, why don’t you let me go? My wrists are starting to chafe.”

Kirishima glared at the mechanic. “What? They are! And besides, the elevator’s broken anyway. I’m not gonna be worried about you taking me prisoner or anything if we’re trapped down here.”

Soda flashed a toothy grin at the hero, hoping that he’ll acquiesce to his request. With a sigh, Kirishima released Soda. He stood up and rubbed his wrists. They were red from how tightly Kirishima had been holding onto him.

“Cool. So, what do you wanna talk about now that we-“

Kirishima’s fist collided with Soda’s face as he turned around, knocking him to the floor.

“Aw, what the hell, man? What’d you do that for?” Soda cradled his nose as he picked himself back up. “That really hurt!”

“What the hell do you _think_ , jackass?” Kirishima responded. “You pushed me down here to a maze filled with traps. Try and kill me not once but _twice_! Shot at me with a machinegun and came at me with a mech! I think I deserve to be a little pissed off at you.”

A stupefied look appeared on Soda’s face as realization began to dawn on him. His face brightened, as if a cloud of fog had been lifted. No longer confused, he explained to Kirishima. “Nah man. I didn’t mean for that to happen to you specifically. I was aiming for that other one, Izuku Midoriya.”

The way Soda said this made it seem like he was expecting Kirishima to instantly stop being angry. Needless to say, it didn’t have quite the intended effect. “Wait, that’s right! I pushed Midoriya out of the way for that!” Kirishima slapped his head as he remembered. “You wanted him to go through _that_?” He pointed back at the maze. “And all of this?” He gestured to the spent casings that littered the floor. “What do you have against him? What did he ever do to you?”

Soda frowned. “Nothing.” He answered honestly. “I’ve never met the guy in my life.”

Kirishima pulled a confused face. “Then why?”

Soda rubbed the back of his head. “To tell you the truth, this place doesn’t really have enough firepower to deal with intruders like your class. I mean, you saw how easily your group dealt with all those guard Monokuma, right? It would’ve been a slaughter in here if I didn’t think of a plan to deal with all of you.”

“And that plan was… all of this?” Kirishima gestured to everything around him. “You were gonna pick us off one by one?”

“No man. That’s not it.” Soda said disappointingly. Kirishima resisted the urge to punch him again. “I just needed one of you, that’s all. I’d let you go through the maze full of traps. You’d get hurt a bit, but none of those traps are designed to kill. Then, you’d reach the so-called ‘exit’ of the maze and be led right here, where you’d be torn to shreds by these machine guns.”

“Right… and what was that gonna accomplish?”

“Well, this whole time I’d be broadcasting it live on those monitors.” Soda pointed at one on the wall of the room. “They’d watch you struggle through the maze, risking life and limb with every trap you spring. They’d all be relieved when you finally found the exit and then… BLAM! You die horribly right in front of their faces. They’d all be in too much despair to fight back, then I come in and kill them all. How’s that for a plan?”

Soda looked expectantly at Kirishima like he was expecting praise. Kirishima’s lips simply curled in revulsion. “I’d say you disgust me. But you’d probably take it as a compliment. But you still haven’t answered my question. Why Midoriya?”

“Well, I wanted to get the person that you’d all be the saddest about losing.” Soda explained.

“And you figured that was Midoriya?” Kirishima crossed his arms. “I thought you said you never met him.”

“I didn’t. But some of my classmates have.” Soda corrected.

“Oh yeah.” Kirishima nodded. “You’re talking about Owari and Koizumi, right?”

Soda was startled. “Huh? Owari? She never mentioned any of that to me. You sure you didn’t get the wrong person?”

“No, Midoriya told me all about it. She was staying with her family while all this Ultimate Despair thing had been going on. She was starving herself and butchering their neighbours’ pets to feed her younger siblings.”

Soda frowned. “That sounds like her alright…”

“You didn’t know about it? She didn’t tell you?”

“I don’t really keep in contact with them these days.” Soda admitted. “The only person I communicate with is Kuzuryu and even that’s pretty rare to begin with.”

“Kuzuryu… you mean Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu? The Yakuza?”

“Yeah. He’s our temporary leader right now.”

“Him? What about your real leader?” Kirishima asked casually.

“Oh her? She’s staying-ack!” Soda quickly covered his mouth as his eyes bugged out. He pointed at Kirishima in an accusatory fashion. “You! You almost tricked me again!”

“Heh.” Kirishima grinned. “Almost had ya.”

“Not cool.” Soda crossed his arms.

“Why do you care? Thought we weren’t getting out of here anyway.”

“Well that’s because… that’s because our leader is special!” Soda declared. “I can’t just go out and tell everyone about her.”

“Special? I don’t believe you. Why don’t you tell me her identity and I’ll go see for myself?”

“You can’t. Not that I’ll tell you _why_.” Soda rolled his eyes.

“Fine, whatever.”

Having lost the thread of conversation, Kirishima and Soda settled down into a long silence. Soda tried to go over to the remains of his destroyed mech, but Kirishima shouted at him and told him to stay put. Now, they were on opposite ends of the room. With Kirishima near the mech and Soda near the broken-down elevator.

They sat on the floor with not much to do. Occasionally, they would look up and glare at one another, making sure that their mutual hatred for the other is conveyed. But otherwise, it was a fruitless endeavour.

They stayed like this for quite some time. It was Soda who broke the silence first.

“Ugh, I’m bored!” Soda declared loudly, earning him an annoyed glance from Kirishima’s direction.

“Well what do you want me to do about it?” Kirishima grumbled. “If you want a change of scenery, fix the elevator and we can get out of here. Then, you can be bored all you want inside of a Future Foundation cell.”

“So I’ll be bored either way? That’s a terrible deal!”

“But I won’t be!”

“I don’t care what happens to you!”

And they were silent once more. Kirishima began to pace back and forth while Soda hummed strange songs to himself. When their eyes met, they would instantly look the other way again with a scoff.

“Hey, what is that thing?” Kirishima whipped his head around to see Soda pointing at his waist. He followed his gaze and arrived at the Megaphone Hacking Gun, dangling from its holster. Despite everything he went through, it seems that it was still functional.

“This?” Kirishima took it out and held it up, inspecting it in his hands. “It’s a Future Foundation weapon. Didn’t you see us destroying the Monokuma with it?”

“Oh, that’s what it is?” Soda frowned. Then he looked excitedly at Kirishima. “Hey, can I see it?”

Soda began to walk over to which Kirishima became flustered. “What the hell? Why would I let you even near the thing let alone touch it?”

“It’s just for a second!” Soda pleaded. “Besides, as a mechanic, whenever I see some new piece of technology, I just want to disassemble it into tiny little pieces to see how it works. C’mon man, it’s just for a second!”

“You just admitted that you want to take it apart!” Kirishima was utterly bewildered by Soda’s brazen attitude. “I’m not lending it to you, so back off!”

“Oh, come on! There’s not even any Monokuma here, what would you need it for? Besides, I’ll put it back together again. It’ll be as if it were brand new, I promise!”

“I’m not letting you nor your weird fingers near this thing!”

Soda stopped walking. “Wha- my fingers are _not_ weird!” He said while raising a finger that morphed into the shape of a Phillips head screwdriver. “It’s my quirk, Multitool. It allows me to transform my body into various objects that help with my tinkering. It’s not like your quirk is any better.”

“My quirk is loads better!” Kirishima shouted indignantly. “In case you forgot already, it’s the quirk that wiped the floor with both you _and_ your big stupid mech thing.”

“I haven’t forgotten that at all!” Soda yelled. “And you owe me for destroying my mech! As recompense, I’ll take that megaphone thing you’ve got there.”

“I don’t owe you a single yen!” Kirishima said. Then he looked at Soda. “I mean, if you’re willing to fix the elevator, then maybe…”

“Ah, forget it.” Soda said as he walked back to where he was sitting. Kirishima hung his head in annoyance and disappointment.

More time passed without either of them saying a word to the other.

“Hey, what did your friends say about Midoriya, anyway?” Kirishima asked, grabbing Soda’s attention. “You never told me.”

“Oh, that? Well, they said… he seemed kinda hopeful… or whatever…”

“Really? That’s it? That’s all you needed in order to want to kill someone in front of their entire class.” Kirishima said in disbelief. “Pump him full of lead and then leave him to die here in the underground?”

“Well, it needed to be someone that could bring the whole class together.” Soda said while scratching his head. “That was pretty important. It had to be _just like_ that time _-_ and it’s not like I knew any of you guys personally.”

“Bring the whole class together?” Kirishima was confused. There were several things strange about what Soda had just said. He decided to focus on the most important part first. “You thought Midoriya did that?” Kirishima shook his head. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. He’s a cool guy and my friend, but it’s not like he’s the most popular person in the class or anything.”

“No?”

“No. If anything, I’d say Yaoyorozu, and maybe Ashido are far more popular.” Kirishima looked away while Soda nodded his head.

“I don’t have any idea who those people are.”

“No, of course you don’t.’

“In that case, I should’ve tried to kill _them_ instead?”

“No!” Kirishima shouted. “Wait, yes. I mean, wait, no! I mean… you shouldn’t be killing anyone! Aargh!” Kirishima rubbed his temples as the conversation with Soda confused him. “I’m not encouraging you to kill anyone here, alright?”

“Well, it’s not like I get a do-over on this thing.” Soda muttered. He looked at Kirishima. “But this guy was really adamant on Midoriya for some reason. Like, when he encouraged your other friend to start using his Fire.”

“Oh! That was the Sports Festival, right?” Kirishima suddenly remembered. “Yeah, that was during Midoriya’s fight against Todoroki!”

“Yeah…” Soda nodded. “And again, when you rescued that guy that got kidnapped by the League of Villains.”

“Oh-oh yeah!” Kirishima sat up in excitement. “I almost forgot about that! Midoriya talked a whole bunch of us into going and rescuing Bakugou from the League! Man, that was so long ago now.”

“Hmph. Glad _someone_ had fun that night.” Soda mumbled to himself. It didn’t seem like Kirishima heard him as they quieted down once again in the dimly lit room.

A few minutes later, Kirishima stood up, clutching his stomach and groaning.

“Huh? What’s the matter? Feeling hungry already?” Soda laughed. “Or maybe you have to go to the toilet? Just do it in the corner, I won’t judge.”

“What the- No! I’m not going to the bathroom in front of you!” Kirishima yelled.

“Well, fine. I can probably build a temporary toilet or something if you want. All I need is-“

“No, damnit! I’m not letting you close to the mech.”

“Aw man, why don’t you trust me?” Soda grumbled.

“Maybe it’s because you tried to kill me twice.” Kirishima responded dryly. “Don’t know, haven’t thought about it that much.”

“Whatever.” Soda shrugged. “It’s your funeral.”

“You’re not really planning on letting yourself die down here, are you?” Kirishima wondered. “Doesn’t Ultimate Despair have grander plans in motion? You can’t possibly be satisfied with just this, can you?”

“Ha, are you getting desperate now?” Soda taunted. “Too bad. The only way I’m repairing that elevator is if you die before I do. Either way, you’re not getting out of here alive.”

“Oh yeah? You seem to be forgetting about something.” Kirishima said. “My friends are still up there, searching for me. They’ll find a way to rescue me, so why don’t you just give up now.”

Soda scoffed. “Or maybe Ultimate Despair reinforcements have arrived and wiped them all out. Either way, we won’t know unless they actually come down here.”

“Hmph.”

The silence returned. It’s presence was comforting in the dim underground. Their conversations were brief and curt, and all ended abruptly, as one side simply gave up on conversing. Most of their conversations ended that way, as both of them saw their snappy back and forths as nothing more than a way to pass the time.

“Damnit…” Soda muttered and Kirishima raised his head. “Is this really how it’s all gonna end? I kinda at least wanted to see the next stage of the plan…”

“Well, what was the plan?” Kirishima asked, causing Soda to turn around.

“Shut up! Why would I tell you?” Soda griped.

“Whatever, man.” Kirishima rolled his eyes. “And it’s not like I’m forcing you to stay down here, you know? You just have to fix the elevator, man. And then we’ll be out of here!”

“Grr… you know I’m not gonna do that!” Soda growled at the hero. “You’ll take me back to the Future Foundation and do whatever it takes to force the information out of me! I know you will! I won’t betray my friends no matter what!”

“C’mon, man. That’s not gonna happen.” Kirishima mumbled. Though he wasn’t exactly sure what went on when Sakakura interrogated his prisoners, All-Might seemed to trust him, so he couldn’t possibly be that bad. “But in any case… sticking with your friends no matter what, even if means certain death? I gotta admit, it’s pretty impressive. For Ultimate Despair, I mean.”

“Oh. Yeah. Thanks, I guess.” Soda said quietly. Then spoke louder to Kirishima. “Hey, I was also wondering… are you really just gonna sit there and do nothing? I mean, I thought you might’ve started trying to coerce me using force or something…”

“What? Nah.” Kirishima denied. “I mean, I don’t like shit like that. Just forcing people to do what I want using brute strength? It doesn’t feel right.”

“Hm. Yeah, I get that.” Soda nodded.

The two of them stared at each and for the first time that day, didn’t turn their heads or make a disgusted face when they did.

“You talked about betraying your friends a whole bunch. Why’s it so important to you, anyway?”

Soda looked oddly at Kirishima. “It’s this whole thing that happened when I was younger. Probably not very interesting anyway.”

“I’ve got nowhere else to be.” Kirishima shrugged. “Lay it on me.”

Soda sighed. “Well, it all started when I was in middle school. There was a guy I knew who was my best friend. We hung out together all the time. Then one day, he asked if he could cheat off of me during a test. I didn’t mind, of course… but then we got caught.

He insisted that I was the one who offered to give him all the answers. I didn’t say anything to defend myself, so I was the only one punished in the end. I mean, I didn’t mind it all that much, since he was my friend and all, but… ever since then, he started to grow all distant when I tried to hang out, even go so far as to start avoiding me whenever we were at school. Wasn’t really sure why at the time…”

“Well, he probably felt bad about throwing you under the bus like that.” Kirishima spoke up. His face had twisted into a frown without realizing it. “I’m sure anyone would feel guilty about doing that to a friend.”

“Yeah, I feel like I can understand him a bit more now.” Soda agreed. “But since then, I pretty changed everything about myself.”

Kirishima looked up at Soda when he said this.

“I dyed my hair pink, switched from wearing glasses to contacts, and changed my entire wardrobe. Ever since then, everyone who I used to get along with started avoiding me and I got friendly with a bunch of punks instead. Reinventing yourself… it’s kinda scary how everything just changes all of a sudden. Since then, I don’t think I had any real friends until I was accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy.”

“I-I see…” Kirishima wasn’t sure how to take this. “I mean, I can definitely understand where you’re coming from…”

“Huh? What’re you saying? What would you know about any of that, anyway? You’re nothing but a hope-obsessed hero.”

“Okay. First of all, that’s not an insult.” Kirishima bristled after being brushed off like that. “And second of all… do you really wanna know?”

“Huh? You’ve got a story too?” Soda rubbed the back of his head. “Well, don’t let me stop you.”

“Well, okay. So, this happened in middle school too. There were a bunch of bullies picking on another kid for his quirk. I went to intervene, but I couldn’t even do anything. I was too weak. Someone else managed to stop them instead.

That same day, when I was walking home, I saw a couple of my classmates from my school being cornered by a villain. I wanted to try and help them, but I couldn’t move. My legs froze up and all I could do was watch what went down from afar. In the end, another one of my classmates got him to leave.”

Soda frowned. “So? Sounds like things got resolved in the end. It’s not like you were a hero back then. Dealing with threats wasn’t your priority.”

“That’s not it.” Kirishima said. “I wanted to be a hero so badly. But when push came to shove, I couldn’t even get over my own fear.”

“Well, it looks like it all worked out in the end. You’re a hero now, aren’t you?”

“Still just a student. But yeah, I suppose. For a while, things looked bleak. I almost didn’t even go through with applying to UA after that.”

“So, what happened?” Soda asked.

“I was inspired by the hero I looked up to the most, Crimson Riot. So, I-”

“Who? Never heard of ‘em.” Soda interrupted to which Kirishima glared.

“ _As I was saying_ _…_ I started to train myself and my quirk really hard. Day and night. I applied to UA and passed the entrance exams. After I got the news that I’ve been accepted I… well, I dyed my hair from black to red and started to slick it up nice like this.” Kirishima pointed to his hair. “I wanted to start off on the right foot for my high school debut.”

Kirishima finished and the room went silent. Soda stared up at him, not saying a word. Kirishima looked away, his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

“Okay, look. I know that story wasn’t as good as yours and all, but-“

“You get me.” Soda said as Kirishima was in the middle of speaking. “You understand what it’s like to suddenly change yourself.”

“Yeah… I do.” Kirishima looked up at Soda. Though it may have just been the lighting, he felt that Soda’s eyes were a lot less red than before. In the dimness of their surroundings, they almost looked pink. “Like… that feeling when you just can’t take it anymore. And you know that you have to switch some things up.”

“Yeah! And when you do, it’s all scary and new. And you don’t if you’re gonna like yourself or not. Or if other people are gonna think it’s weird or not.”

“Yeah! And then you start to have doubts, like it’s eating you up inside or whatever. But then you swallow it all up and push yourself to go through with it.”

“Yeah!” Kirishima stood up and Soda followed suit. “And you start to get more and more comfortable with it. Like it’s basically a part of you. And you can look back at who you were in the past and-”

“And it’s not like you disliked who you were before. But you can accept that you changed and stuff… y’know?”

“Yeah! Yeah…” Kirishima and Soda were standing just a few metres away from each other. Having calmed down a bit, the two of them stood there looking at one another. A few seconds passed without either of them speaking.

“So…” Soda rubbed the back of his neck. “This is… a little awkward.”

“No kidding…” Kirishima muttered.

“H-hey, just so you know, this doesn’t mean I’m gonna give up on keeping you down here… I mean…”

“Yeah… about that… I’ve got something to say. If you wanna hear me out.”

* * *

Shoji looked up as he heard a distant sound with his ears, to which he gathered the entire class. Together, they followed him to where he heard the noise from. As they closed in, a figure stepped out from behind a corner…

“Dude! You’re alive!”

“Bro!”

Kaminari and Sero were the first to approach him. They near tackled him to the ground and caught him in a forceful group hug.

It took the other students a few seconds for everything to sink in, but they all reacted similarly when they did.

“Kirishima!” The class seemed to call out as one as they each tried to get in as close as they could to their once missing friend.

“Everyone! Give him some space!” Iida called out at the top of his lungs, causing everyone there to pause. “We don’t know the extent of his injuries, so pushing Kirishima too far could be unwise.”

As he said that, a couple students backed off, seemingly ashamed of not realizing it sooner.

“Ah, it’s fine.” Kirishima said. “Nothing got broken and the bleeding’s all stopped now.” He moved his arms around as a demonstration. “I’m totally fine!”

“Ah, well in that case…” The students all swarmed him once more as Iida watched on, smiling and shaking his head.

“We were all looking for you!” Midoriya said as he tearfully embraced his friend. “I’m so sorry. You were in danger because of me.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, man. The fact that it was me down there…” Kirishima smiled. Briefly, that smile seemed to waver, but it may have just been a trick of the light. “Seriously, don’t worry about it.”

“We were attempting to track down the member of Ultimate Despair that threw you down there.” Yaoyorozu said. “But they seemed to have escaped our grasp.”

“Oh… is that so?” Kirishima said evenly. He didn’t manage to meet her eyes.

“Yeah, we wanted to pay you back to the asshole that did all that to you.” Sero gritted his teeth. “Guess they got too scared. Turned tail and ran.”

“Hah. Well, it’s not that big of a deal. Really.” Kirishima said. “I mean, I’m just glad to be alive.”

“What happened while you were down there, anyway?” Ashido spoke up and asked. “After you were um… shot all those times. The feed cut off and we tried to find you.”

“Huh? Oh… I was just… wandering around, y’know?” Kirishima rubbed the back of his head. “It was pretty difficult to find an exit out of there. Took me a while.”

“Well, either way, man. We’re glad you’re alright.” Kaminari playfully slugged his shoulder.

“Haha, yeah.”

Kirishima could hardly keep up with the energy his reunion seemed to have caused. His mind was still racing, distracted by the deal he had cut with Soda.

“Hey.” Suddenly, the crowd around him fell silent and Kirishima looked up to see what was happening. Bakugou was walking towards him, silent and frowning hard. His eyes were as sharp as knives as he stared Kirishima down straight into his soul.

He gulped. Kirishima wasn’t exactly sure how, but somehow his friend had figured him out. He figured out exactly what happened down there right outside of the elevator. He figured out the deal he made with Soda. In return for him fixing the elevator for him, Kirishima would let him go free.

A chill ran down Kirishima’s spine as Bakugou looked at him and said nothing. Silently, he stared directly into his being, as if he could see every secret he had, all laid bare.

“Took you long enough.” Bakugou said at last and Kirishima released the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Knew you wouldn’t die so easily.”

Just like that, Bakugou walked away. The class laughed and continued with their celebration.

the atmosphere slowly dulled, and the class started catching Kirishima up on what he’d missed while he was down there. Kirishima could only half pay attention, his mind otherwise preoccupied with other matters.

The class started to drift away from the elevator as they made plans to return to the Future Foundation. Kirishima was the last to follow. With one last look at the elevator, his gaze drifted downwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re worried about dying alone with no friend by your side, then all you have to do is bring a friend. Or in this case, make one.
> 
> Kirishima and Soda were two people that I had thought about since before I even started writing the story. Even more than just their teeth, they have similar backstories as well. I thought it would be an interesting to give them a chapter all to themselves.
> 
> Next chapter: Kirishima returns to the Future Foundation, worried about something Soda said.


End file.
